


A Dash of Glitter

by GalacticTwink



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Michael Has a Squip, Angst, Boys Kissing, Boys in Skirts, Consensual Underage Sex, Gay Michael Mell, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Michael-centric, Mild Sexual Content, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Pining, Poor Michael, Service Dogs, Sexting, Slow Burn, Slurs, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Trans Michael Mell, Underage Drinking, Vaginal Fingering, autistic michael mell, boyf-riends is one sided, boys wearing makeup, expensive headphones, mainly rich/michael, make michael gay 2k17, make michael gay 2k18, make michael happy 2k18, supportive squip, what is jeremy doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-02-08 02:19:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12854646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticTwink/pseuds/GalacticTwink
Summary: Michael doesn't think his life is shitty. Well, he knows that it could be worse at least. But he heard about something that could give him the one thing that could make the rest of his life infinitely more bearable. The one person he always looks to for support, and he looks right back. Jeremy Heere, Michael's own personal heaven on Earth and best friend of more years than he can count. But is the dash of glitter his Squip offers enough to take Michael from at least partially in the closet to dating his best friend? Is Jeremy even gay, or interested in Michael at all? And even if he is, will he really be what Michael needs?{Updates on Saturday's}





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, first of all yeah I'm not dead. I've been working on this for a while and honestly I'm more proud of this than anything else I've ever written so far. So I really, really hope at least someone else can appreciate it too! Currently I'm maybe 1/4 of the way through writing Chapter 4 and I'm not sure how long this will be yet.

  Michael bites his lip, looking down at the Grey pill sitting in the centre of his palm. This is so stupid, god, he’s so stupid. He just paid nearly a thousand dollars for what looks like a tic tac. There’s no way he’s putting that in his body, who knows what’s in it! 

  “Goddamn it.” He shoves the thing back into the plastic bag the ‘dealer’ had given it to him in, crinkling it up and wedging it into his pocket. Maybe he can pawn it off on someone he plays Warcraft with so it’s not a complete waste of money. Michael smears the fingerprints and dandruff flakes off his glasses, getting up to swing into the bathroom and swirl up his hair with some gel. He spent too long contemplating to take a shower, so extra body spray it is. Alright; phone, charger, wallet, lucky pencil, car keys.. Michael’s ready to make an exit before his dad wakes up. The ride to school is only fifteen minutes, plus the time it took him to go through the drive through at Starbucks. It’s not a school day if he isn’t nearly od’ing on caffeine at six am. With his student parking permit flipped yellow side up on his dash, he pulls his beautiful pair of white SkullCandy’s over his ears. The hallway is probably loud, but Michael can’t hear anything over the gentle thrum of guitar strings and the squeal of sax. He glides past clusters of kids, spinning his combo into his lock and popping the locker open with a little elbow grease on his part to make up for how sticky the damn thing is. Someone slams his locker closed before he can get anything from it, their pasty hand connecting to an equally as pale, short body. 

  “Morning Rich.” Michael winks, speaking above his music and probably shouting at the little guy. 

  “Shut it, fag.” He pushes Michael against the metal, uncapping a marker and writing something across his backpack. 

  “Wash this off and you’re dead.” Rich gives him another shove for good measure, scampering off to high five one of his buddies or hit on girls or something. Michael opens his locker again and actually gets some books this time, abandoning the hallway quickly to sit in one of the music rooms and drink his coffee in peace. The cute old choir teacher waves at him, making his day worlds better with an adorable old person smile. He sits and enjoys the quiet and the caffeine, looking up when the woman taps on the desk he’s sitting in and points up at the clock. He’s pretty sure she thinks he’s deaf, or maybe she is. Either way, Michael dashes down to class and makes it barely before the bell, tossing down his bag to stand at attention for the pledge. He whips off his headphones, securing his hearing aids on and cranking them up. He doesn’t get a word that’s said all class, but that was only because he wasn’t listening; not because he didn’t hear. All Michael’s morning classes are a blur, but he never gets any homework and everything they do is so easy. The only thing he can’t handle is his classmates, who are loud without any restrictions on their outbursts. God, he wishes that he could have classes with Jeremy. Lunch finally crawls around, and they get way too much time; enough for him to fucking leave to pick something up and sit down right before he spotted Jeremy rounding the corner. 

  “Jeremy, hey!” Michael waves enthusiastically, drumming his hands on the table as his friend approaches and waving both at Jeremy when he finally gets there. 

  “How’s it hanging dude?? You look terrible. What’s wrong?”

  “Ugh, you don’t wanna know dude.” He sinks down into a chair, dropping his face into his hands and rubbing his eyes. He looks so tired. Michael’s heart skips a beat when his friend looks back up at him sleepily, eyelids heavy and half closed. 

  “Rich Goranski wrote ‘Boyf’ on my backpack in sharpie. What the Fuck does that even mean?” Jeremy lifts his bag up onto the table, and Michael squirms a little; picking up his own bag and turning it around for the ginger across from him to see.

  “‘Riends’? Boyf, Riends… oh. What the hell? We’re not even gay!” Michael laughs nervously. 

  “Hahaha, yeah!! I know! No gay here bro.” That was believable. 

  “Shit, Michael, look who’s signing up for the play!” He wishes that it was him. But Michael would get bullied even more if he signed up for something like that. 

  “Christine… it would be perfect.”

  “Go for it dude!! Who cares if people think it’s lame?” The brunette gives his friend a push, urging him to make his way over to the signup sheet hanging on the wall. Michael’s eyes search for who calls Jeremy out, of course finding Rich at the end of his gaze. He intercepts before the douche can get to his best friend, forcing the shorter boy to slam into him and turning all that misguided fury on himself so Jeremy can scurry off to the bathroom.

  “Hey snowflake, you’re in my way.” Goranski raises his voice, leaning his head in close to Michael so he’s practically screaming in his ear. His eyes water and his head throbs, fingers itching to turn his pink noise up and drown out everything.

  “I said, you’re in my way. Move it.” Rich shoves him, but changes his mind at the last second and grabs Michael by the shirt. He closes his eyes before the other boy’s hand makes contact with his face, not dulling the pain any. Something warm splashes down his face, running from his nose and across his lips. Rich lets him go to run off in a completely different direction Jeremy had gone for a bathroom. He stumbles inside, going straight for a sink to splash water in his face and grab for some paper towels to mop up the blood. Doesn’t he have tissues? Michael empties all four of his pockets onto the lip of the sink with shaking hands, knocking a good half of it onto the floor when the door slams against the wall. Didn’t the bell ring already?

  “Wrong bathroom Princess, this one is for boys.”

  “Fuck off Rich, you already filled your quota for the day.” His voice is strained, nose covered by already blood soaked paper towel. He apparently doesn’t believe in leaving Michael alone, shoving him down to the ground and winding back his arm. 

  “You don’t get to tell me when I’m- what is that.” It wasn’t a question, it was a demand. Rich’s eyes are focused down on the floor, where the plastic bag of disappointment had fallen. The shorter boy visibly recoils, retracting his fist to press both his hands onto his temples and scream. What the fuck? Rich flips out for a solid minute before he looks at Michael again, and have his eyes always been that.. bright?

  “Tell me this is what I think it is.” He picks the bag up and thrusts it against Michael’s chest, forcing him to take it. He just stares. Michael is pretty sure it’s only a tic tac, but if it’s going to get him out of a beating he hopes he can remember the damn thing. 

  “Uh- It-It’s from Japan.” He sits up, making a gesture with both hands. “It’s a grey, oblong pill; Quantum Nano Technology CPU. The Quantum computer in the pill will travel through your blood until it implants in your brain and it tells you what to do.” Michael’s nose has stopped bleeding, eyes locked with Rich’s and one hand still clutching the small plastic bag.

  “Take it.”

  “Wha- I don’t have-“ Rich reaches frantically into his backpack, nearly throwing a half full bottle of Mountain Dew at him. The boy in front of Michael is visibly trembling, though he can’t tell if it’s from excitement or something else. What the hell. Michel uncaps the bottle and dumps the pill straight into his mouth. Here goes nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real talk im so surprised that people are actually reading this?? I feel like the 'michael gets squipped' thing is already overdone so I didn't feel like my fic would stand out at all haha

**Squip**

_Michael to Squip_

_**Unison** _

Text Message

* * *

  Michael swallows, getting the small pill down with one gulp of soda. Rich is bouncing excitedly, thrumming his fingers on his thigh and glancing between the empty space to his left and Michael rapidly.

  “Well? How do you feel?”

  “I don’t feel anyth-“ the bathroom door swings open, footsteps echoing in the room.

  “Michael?” It’s Jeremy. He should be in class, why did he wait up?

  “Get Out of here tallass!”

  “No-wait!” Michael lurches up off the ground to grab Rich’s arm, keeping him from advancing onto Jeremy. He catches sight of his friend’s blue eyes and something clicks inside his head, followed closely by a sharp shock of pain. His grip on Rich tightens as the jab turns into a wave accompanied by a jarring ring that echoes through his ears and drowns out any other noise around him. Michael screams. Hands clasped onto his shoulders, Rich’s arm pulled from his own grasp so the shorter boy can hold him as his knees buckle.

**Target Male inaccessible.**

A voice echoes through the wail, too loud to even hear himself scream over it.

**Calibration in progress, please excuse some mild discomfort.**

Electricity runs up his spine, making his whole frame twitch and buckle under the unseen assault.

**Calibration complete. Access procedure initiated.**

For one bright, shining moment it was gone. His pink noise buzzed, and he could hear Jeremy calling his name from the other side of Rich. Then, it got worse.

**Discomfort level may increase.**

Michael’s back arches, head hitting the bathroom floor hard before a hand comes around to cradle the soft spot.

**Accessing neural memory, accessing muscle memory, access procedure complete.**

It stops. His vision blurs and comes back to focus, and Michael is blinking up at Rich Goranski; who is sitting on his chest, one hand grasping the brunette’s right wrist and the other cradling the back of his head.

  “Michael? Michael! Let go of him, what the fuck are you doing-“

**Michael Mell, Welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. Your SQUIP.**

Another figure joins the three of them in the bathroom, shimmering and giving off an almost ethereal red glow from its body. Michael’s eyes settle on it, away from Rich’s beaming face and Jeremy’s struggles to pull the more muscular boy off of his friend. He takes a breath, ready to say anything when the bathroom door opens harshly; letting in several staff members who had come rushing down to tend to all this screaming. Michael is still covered from nose to chin in his own blood, sprawled out on the floor beneath both Rich and Jeremy. What a scene.

Michael is escorted to the nurse's office and, upon examination, is discharged to go home early. He glances around himself periodically, but doesn’t catch even a glimpse of the ghostly figure that had been speaking to him earlier the whole drive back to his house. His dad isn’t home; probably at work since he hadn’t picked up when the school called, but there are some bars open this early on a Tuesday. Michael flops down on the couch without removing his shoes, turning down his hearing aids and flipping on some HGTV. His head hurts like a bitch, but that’s nothing four aspirin won't cure.

**Michael.**

He jumps, looking up from his cell at the same ‘person’ he’s seen before. Sure, they look real enough, but he can’t shake the unnatural feel they’re giving off; all glowing and red like that. Other than that, they’re totally someone Michael would stare at from across the room. What with that blonde hair, and those blue eyes, and..

**Michael, I am your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. Your SQUIP.**

  “You look like Chris Pine.”

**A default form I’ve chosen from your visual memory. Additionally you may choose from: Leonardo DiCaprio, Young Nicholas Cage, and Sexy Anthropomorphic Dog.**

  “Uh, Chris is fine.” Michael shakes his head, looking around the room for something he can’t place.

**I am inside your brain, Michael. I am being projected here for your convenience. Anyone around you would be unable to see anything but you, carrying on an animated conversation with yourself. So, refrain from doing that.**

  “Sooo, I shouldn’t talk to you.”

**No, communication is a key factor in everything. Simply think about what you’d like to say to me. I can hear what you are thinking about.**

**Yes, I am quite incredible.**

  “Like Piccolo?” The hologram sighs, covering its forehead with one of its hands. His hands? Their hands? Michael doesn’t want to slap labels on the thing.

**I am a supercomputer, your concept of gender means nothing to me.**

It paces a circle around the room, feet gliding over the carpet and barely touching the floor.

**Stand.**

They stop just across the room, crossing both arms across their chest and levelling its gaze with Michael’s. He practically jumps off the couch to stand at attention, arms plastered at his sides and back rigid.

**That is.. almost good. You’re very stiff, like you have to use the bathroom. Relax.**

He complies, taking a deep breath and letting himself relax; back slouching and hands tucking into his jacket pockets. Much better.

**No, no, walk over here.**

It beckons Michael over, surveying the way he holds himself and how he walks the few steps across the room.

**Take your hands out of your pockets. Roll back your shoulders, puff out your chest. Sway your hips while you walk; you’re gay, aren’t you?**

Michael blinks at it, not knowing where to start with that. They sigh, showing the boy what he means and physically moving him.

  “Woah, you can touch me?”

**No. I simply manipulate your nerves so your body thinks I am touching you.**

It pushes Michael forward, making him stumble and nearly fall onto the carpet.

**You can work on that.**

The brunette stutters, stumbling over trying to say something and giving up before he embarrassed himself too much.

**What’s wrong with your voice?**

  “Nothing’s Wrong with my voice!” His voice squeaks, making Michael clear his throat to force his voice deeper again.

**That. What are you doing? You are pushing it too far down. Have you never heard a gay male speak before?**

  “What?” The Squip rolls its eyes, clearing their throat and repeating Michael with an added effeminate twang to the word. The boy blinks at it, trying it for himself and scrunching up his nose at it.

**Wonderful, keep working on that as well. I will assist of course.**

  “I don’t really-“

**Please, cease subscribing to this hyper-masculine viewpoint that you hold and will never be able to achieve. It would be toxic even for a male of biological nature to attempt to conform to such an image.**

Michael opens his mouth, bringing his lips back together again without saying anything. He can't argue with that one. Ouch.

**However, It is good you acknowledge that you are quite separate from being male. But, we can change that.**

  “How can you-”

**Shhh.**

It ‘touches’ a finger to Michael's lips, making the skin there feel warm and buzzing lightly on him.

**In time. First things first, ask him out.**

Michael blinks. What? The Squip repeats the command, then shocks the boy to regain his focus.

**Ask him out.**

He hurries to pull his phone from his pocket, dropping it twice before he can pull up Jeremy’s contact and stare at their conversation.

  “What do I say?” it pushes two fingers against its temple, signing deeply at the brunette’s pure incompetence.

**Here, repeat after me.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not super happy with the scene where his Squip activated but I rewrote it like 3 times and none of them were better so I just left it be


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update cuz I'm busy tomorrow

**Squip**

_Michael to Squip_

**_Unison_ **

Text Message

* * *

 Michael runs his fingers through his hair, frowning at his reflection and deepening the expression into a scowl when his eye catches the Squip behind him. 

  “What am I wearing?” he turns away from the mirror, scooping up his hearing aids from the dresser and curling them around his ears.

**Ah, ah, take those off.**

  “I need them!” 

**Your hearing is intact.**

  “Yeah, here; where it's quiet.” He switches on his pink noise, watching Squip carefully to make sure they aren't going to shock him. Fine. If it's going to let him have that one, the least Michael can do is preen until he feels less self conscious. He might be here for a while. 

**Stop.**

Michael sighs one last time, taking a nice deep breath and posing in front of the mirror. Squip picked out his outfit, and he feels completely out if his element. His usual graphic Tee has been swapped out for the only solid colour shirt he owns, the sleeves extending and during off maybe an inch past his wrists just to be safe. His jeans are a size too small and hug in all the places that make Michael feel uncomfortable.

**You're going to be late.**

  “I’m not going to be late.” He pulls up in Jeremy’s driveway ten minutes late. Stupid accident on the roundabout. Michael takes a deep breath before getting out of his car, fussing with his hair all the way up to the door. A few beats after he rings the bell, the door swings open. 

  “Michael! Hey kid, you don't usually bother to knock; get in here.” Mr. Heere isn't wearing pants. 

**Is that the source of his genetic makeup?**

_  Yeah, that's Jeremy’s dad.  _

**Are you sure this is the boy you want?**

Michael didn't get to yell at the computer for that, snapping to attention when Jeremy skips down the stairs before his dad embarrasses him. The brunette’s knees go a little weak, because damn. Jeremy probably hasn't even changed out of what he wore to school that day, but that didn't mean he wasn't drop dead gorgeous. With that goddamn ginger hair and those fucking freckles that Michael just wants to kiss, and not to mention those lips-

  “Michael?” 

  “What- yeah! Yes.” 

**He just asked you how you're doing.**

Oh. Jeremy laughs at him, a beautiful noise that must be been handcrafted by angels in order to be that perfect. 

  “Come on Michael, let's go.” He grabs his jacket and slips on his shoes, holding the door open for the other boy to walk through. 

**Your heart rate is noticeably elevated, as well as the temperature in your face, palms, and.. other areas. Please do not crash the car.**

_  Wait ‘til you see me drive while I'm baked. _

Michael got them to the mall and parked without incident, cruising up between the blue lines with a smile set on his lips.

  “You can take these spots without Eric with you?” 

  “I don't need to take him everywhere, Jer.” He's supposed to, but fuck that noise. He doesn't need his service dog everywhere he goes, Michael is his own man. And, Jeremy is calming enough on his own. 

**Simply being near the boy is elevating your heart rate. Please raise your arms above your head and take a deep breath.**

_  I’m fine. _

  “C’mon Jer!” he grins, grabbing the other boy by the wrist and leading him up into the mall. The mall is super fucking romantic, no matter what the computer says. He’s walking a little (read: way too fucking) fast and narrowly misses taking out a mother and her two small children, an arm around his hips pulling him out of the way just in time; bringing him very, very close to the owner of the arm. That, of course, being Jeremy. Yeah. Michael is turned on now. His chest is pressed up against Jeremy’s and damn it he can definitely feel the extra cushion there but he hasn’t let go of Michael yet and his heart is fucking racing and god he can’t breathe.

**Michael.**

Jeremy is so, so fucking close to him and if he thinks about it too much Michael can feel the outline of his dick through his jeans and jesus christ if that didn’t make him think about it more. He can’t breathe because Jeremy is looking at him like a child that almost got into trouble but he can fucking walk on his own, he doesn’t need that blatant pity in his friend’s eyes.

**Michael.**

God, why is he holding on so tight? Jeremy’s arm around his waist is like a vice that Michael can’t and won’t squirm away from because isn’t this what he wants? The boy he wants is holding him but Michael feels sick from the touch and just wants him to let go. Let go so he can breathe. Let go so he can think. Let go, let go, let go, let go. 

**_“Michael?”_ ** he didn’t even hear his Squip because god his name sounds beautiful on Jeremy’s lips. He touches Michael’s face, brushing some hair off of his face and giving him a concerned look.

  “Are you okay? You’re shaking.” shit. He makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat and swats Jeremy’s hand away without meaning to. Fuck that’s not what he meant to do. 

  “I-I’m sorry, I-” Jeremy shushes him, bringing his fingers back up to lace through Michael's brown locks and comb gently through his hair. People are staring. 

  “Stop-stop, stop.” he takes a step back, then three full deep breaths. Then another. He’s okay. 

  “Where do you want to go first?” Michael tries his best to keep his words from being stiff, and even throws in a smile, but it sounds a little forced anyway. Jeremy doesn’t say anything, moving to take his friend’s hand but thinking better of it and just gesturing for Michael to follow after him. They step into the incense heavy air and Michael feels instantly at home among the dreamcatchers and profane tee shirts on display. Ah, Spencer’s. His shoulders drop and a real smile flicks up at the corners of his mouth. Nothing like a teen grunge store to make him feel better. 

  “There you are.” Jeremy smiles at him, and wow now that the panic is gone all Michael can think about is what the other boy’s body felt like pressed against his own. If he had a dick it would be at full attention right about now. They flip through some shirts and the display of buttons, glazing past the pillars of piercings before the wall of sex toys is in view. How did he forget these were here?

  “I still don’t get how there can be so many different kinds of vibators. Aren’t they all the same?” oh Jeremy. Not all vibes are created equal. No, it took several for Michael to find one that he could really get off with, not that the other ones didn’t do it for him. But there’s always just that one that hits all the right places. He bets Jeremy would hit all the right-

**Michael.**

Right, stop thinking about that immediately. 

  “I dunno man, I guess they’re different somehow.” he shrugs, thankful that he isn’t white and the flush on his face wasn’t too apparent. They loitered for a while and Michael got the promise of a great deal on some vintage soda before they left, getting up to the food court now that everything is chill again. Michael go himself a burger and two orders of fries, and bought Jeremy a slushee only if his friend promised to eat some of his fries. The poor guy is skinny as all hell and Michael knows he doesn’t eat anything unless he’s practically cramming it down his friend’s throat. There are lots of things he could shove down Jeremy’s throat. But right now, it’s oversalted McDonald’s french fries. But Jeremy is dipping them in his slushee, which is fucking disgusting. 

  “Are you sure you don’t want more than fries Jer? I’ll share, or buy you something else.” 

  “No, Michael, I’m fine. I wouldn't be able to eat an entire anything and, uh, your sandwich has bacon on it.” oh fucking shit, how did he forget about that? He stumbles over an apology, but Jeremy just waves it off. 

  “Happens all the time.” the ginger swipes two fries through his drink and pops them in his mouth, smearing blue slush all over his lips and chin. Why is everything he does so attractive. Michael is tempted to lean over and lick the ice off of his friend’s face. 

**Talk to him, you cannot just sit here and watch him eat.**

_  What do I say? _

It sighs, lowering itself down to crouch beside Michael and making it very hard not to look at them. 

**Tell him you like his hair, he's gotten it cut since we saw him last. A fact that you did not notice.**

  “Hey, uh, I like your hair! Did you do something different to it?” Michael Makes an overenthusiastic hand gesture, dripping ketchup onto the table and his own lap but thankfully not on Jeremy. Smooth.  His date still looked thrilled, face lighting up with a fucking beautiful smile. 

  “I did! Actually, I just got it cut yesterday after school. I didn't think you'd notice.” Michael feels accomplished, even though he didn't actually notice. 

**Don't say something then let the conversation did, Michael.**

  “Hey dude, did you clear Level 7 yet? I'm totally stuck.” Jeremy provides conversation before Squip can continue, tucking a hand into his pocket and pulling out his GBA. 

  “Aw shit, yeah I cleared it on like Monday.” He leans over, reaching an arm around Jeremy to point at the screen while the other boy is playing. 

  “Use your first key to go through this door, no don't use any of your bombs just cut the shit out of 'em with your sword.” Jeremy leans back in his chair, head hitting Michael's chest and letting him see the tiny GBA screen better. They clear the dungeon in record time, celebrating quite loudly and sharing several high fives. Well, sharing two high fives and a very cold accident when Michael's elbow knocks Jeremy's shushee off the table and onto his date. 

  “Oh, shit, I'm sorry-" he grabs a napkin and tries to fix it but just smears the syrup covered ice all over the front of Jeremy’s jeans, pushing it around and making the ginger let out a strangled noise. Michael looks up, then back down at his hands. Yeah. He's grinding a napkin against his dick. He should stop. He shamefully presses down a little harder to see the other boy squirm and Jesus Christ, I'd he could feel Jeremy's dick before he definitely can now. Is.. He hard. Oh god, michael wants to go fall in a hole and die painfully. 

  “M-Michael, uh,” 

**Remove your hands from his person.**

He jerks back, tilting his chair harshly and dumping himself down onto the floor; the chair coming down over top of him. Jesus, he's a mess. 

  “I’m just gonna run to the bathroom.” Jeremy helps him up first, scurrying off to the men's room leaving a trail of blue ice behind him.  

  “Shit.” 

**What are you doing? I am aware of your brain but are you incompetent? Well, I suppose you are aren't you.**

  “What the fuck! I’m-"

**Having an animated conversation with yourself.**

Oh, fuck it. Michael is just standing there, twisting the shaking fingers of both his hands together. 

**Calm yourself. Lift your arms, take a deep breath.**

Michael can almost feel the touch of a hand on his shoulder, unnaturally warm and almost like the feeling of static cling. He raises his arms, folding his hands together atop his head and taking a nice deep breath. He picks up his chair and sinks down into its plastic embrace, pulling off his glasses and rubbing them on the edge of his tee shirt because glasses are always fucking dirty; don’t lie. If you wear glasses, they’re dirty right now. Exposed. Jeremy comes back with his jacket tied around his waist, probably to hide the wet spots from wiping the slushee off of his pants so he isn’t walking around looking like he pissed himself.

  “I’m sorry.” Jeremy smiles at him, ruffling his hand through Michael’s hair and giving the side of his head a gentle flick.

  “It’s fine; I wash my clothes anyway.” they clean up as much as they can and take off before any janitors can yell at them for spilling shit all over the floor. They wander, but Jeremy was pretty ready to go home and change so Michael takes him back. 

  “Really, don’t feel bad dude.” the ginger repeats as they pull up in his driveway, a hand patting Michael’s shoulder gingerly. 

  “No harm done, so don’t sweat it.” Michael is going to go home and cry. But he grins at his friend and waves it off with him anyway, he can’t let Jeremy worry about him when he’s already got his own shit going on. 

**Well, that was**

_  Awful, I know. _

**..not as bad as it could’ve been. You can work on it.**

_  On what? _

**Dating.**

**Now, look at the road.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rip Michael, honestly


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick note: this isn't directly after the last chapter! It's probably been a good week or two

**Squip**

_Michael to Squip_

**_Unison_ **

Text Message

* * *

  “Why am I doing this again?”

**Shut up**

  “No, I mean it. I don’t care about Rich, how is he going to help me get Jeremy? He beats me up!”

**He used to beat you up. I’ve been in contact with his Squip and he can help you achieve your goal. No, don’t wear that shirt.**

  “What? When did you talk to his Squip?” Michael tosses his Pokemon Black shirt back into his closet and pulls out something else that the computer also vetos immediately.He doesn’t have any more plain colours!

**The red white and blue striped one.**

  “That’s Jeremy’s.”

**Did I stutter?**

Michael pulls the shirt on.

**Good boy. Now, Richard. I connected with his Squip unit while you were in class this week and we’ve been in contact. You want Jeremy. You need experience. He can provide that for you in a more relaxed environment than when you are with Jeremy.**

  “He’ll beat me up!”

**He will not beat you up. Tuck in your shirt.**

  “What are we even doing?” he shoves the hem of the shirt down his pants, moving his packer all around and making him need to take his jeans off again to fix it. He wears boxers specifically for packing but he still displaces the stupid thing all the damn time. Ugh, he can’t believe that he had to give Rich his address for this. He’s probably going to take Michael out to a dark ally and stab him.

**I assure you he will do no such thing.**

Whatever, Michael still doesn’t trust him. Speak of the devil, someone is pulling up in the driveway, and given that it’s.. Five pm on a Friday night it definitely isn’t his dad. He pulls the curtains on his window apart and peeks out at the driveway. Holy shit. He drives a fucking Tesla? Jesus Christ Michael has never even seen something that expensive up close, let alone gotten into anything like that. Is it even okay for him to sit in that car?

**Is your service animal ready?**

  “I can’t let my fucking dog in that car! It’s worth more than me!” the Squip shocks him. He calls Eric and gets him dressed, vesting his husky up and getting his leash so they can go. Should he bring a towel? Michael grabs one just in case, along with all his service dog paperwork just in case they go somewhere filled with assholes.

  “Okay, okay, I look okay?” he stops at the mirror, making sure his packer still looks in place.

**Put on a jacket.**

Shit, that’s right. Michael covers up his arms with a nice black sweatshirt, lacing up his hightops and taking Eric’s leash in hand once again. He opens the door to find Rich standing outside, hand outstretched but hesitating instead of knocking.

  “Michael, hey!” he looks a little startled.

  “I didn’t know if anyone else was home, so.” Michael laughs.

  “God no, my dad is off to the bar before I’m even home from school.” Eric sits down beside Michael’s feet, panting gently and looking up at the stranger his master is.  talking to. Rich reaches down and pets him. What the fuck dude, don’t pet service dogs. Literally he’s wearing a vest that says ‘do not pet’ what is wrong with you?

  “This is Eric, he’s good at car rides so don’t worry about him.” the brunette pats his friend on the head, but the dog doesn’t respond much to the affection; still at attention by his side. What a good boy.

  “You sure it's okay to bring him? Not everywhere is really pet friendly.” Michael didn't hear him. He was too busy just. staring at Rich. He's so.. at ease and relaxed; shoulders lax and posture casual as he stood on the porch and just looked back at Michael. Wow.

**Michael.**

  “Oh- he's a service dog. They can deal with him.” The shorter boy looks.. surprised, but doesn't say anything about it.

  “Well, let's go. We've got an appointment to keep.” appointment? Where the fuck are they going? Michael closes the door behind him so he can get in Rich’s expensive ass car, letting Eric jump in first and settle into the backseat before he climbed in and struggled to pull the space door back down. This car is not better than his just because it has fancy space doors.

**I would buckle your seatbelt.**

Michael turns around towards the unfamiliar voice, doing a double take at the back seat. Where only his dog had been a second ago, there's now how Squip of course, but beside his personal Chris Pine lookalike is..

  “Christian Slater?” Rich turns around, turning a little pink.

  “Hey, that's personal.” he starts the car, clicking his seatbelt into place and pulling out of the driveway. The vehicle is quiet, the radio switched off and leaving only silence to hang in the air. Well, almost silence.

  “Can you stop doing that?” Rich jumps, looking over at Michael with wide eyes. But the brunette isn't even looking at him, shoulders turned so he can stare into the backseat.

**What is it that I am doing?**

The computer's voice is tense, an eyebrow raised to challenge its user to continue.

  “You're buzzing. Stop it.” his Squip snorts, sparing a glance over at the other hologram beside him. The buzzing got louder.

  “And that! Why can I see him? I couldn't see him before.”

**We are interfacing, Michael.**

  “Ew.”

**Please stop speaking to me aloud.**

  “Why? Rich can see you. He knows what you are.”

**I am aware.**

Michael starts to argue further but the computer cuts him off with a sharp wave of electricity. Yeah, maybe he should shut up now. The rest of the car ride is completely quiet, even the buzzing of Squips calming down eventually.

  “Alright Michael, knees up we're like five minutes late already and I haven't even parked yet.” Rich pulls into a lot, squinting as he looks around for a space.

  “Here, use my card.” he digs out his little plastic blue sign and hands it to Rich so they can park right up next to the door. Eric jumps out first, walking at Michael's side as they walk up to the building. He wasn't able to catch what the sign said, but it looks safe enough; Rich opens the door for him and they step almost back in time, a checkerboard pattern beneath their feet on the tile and rose wallpaper plastered on just about every other surface including the ceiling. The front half of the place is sectioned off from the back and filled with mirrors and chairs and those space things that dry your hair. What he can see of the back looks to be some tables and chairs all set up, but Michael can't tell what they're for from where he is.

  “Morning Liz, yeah I know, sorry I'm late.” Rich leans against the reception desk,  grinning at the old woman sitting at the computer behind it.

  “You always are, Rich. You bring a friend today?” She looks around her computer at Michael, eyes travelling from his head down to his dog and then flicking back to Rich.

  “Who do you want for him?”

  “Is Jay free?” the short boy grins, peering back into the salon and wiggling his fingers behind the woman at a younger, very tall woman boosting her height beyond 6’ with a pair of stylish heels. Michael doesn’t like to stare, but damn. Half her hair is curled in ringlets and dyed with streaks of deep blue and purple, the other half of her hair completely shaved off and leaving her asymmetrical as fuck. But shit, her makeup is on point. Michael is a big drag fan and he’s seen some queens that would sell their souls to this chick. Her brows are on fleek and she's rocking that bold lip. When she speaks, her voice is deep and sultry, again like some Queens Michael hangs around.

  “Rich, honey, it's been too long. I can see your roots.” she touches his hair, almost needing to lean down to fondle the much shorter boy.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know; don't @ me. Michael, this is Jewel. Jewel, Michael.” she purses her lips, looking him up and down and making the brunette squirm.

**Stand up straight.**

He tries, but is too squeamish to look the woman in the eyes.

  “He's cute. Good catch, Ritchy.” She purrs, looking Michael up and down once more before turning fully back to Rich.

  “Come along kitten, let's get this mess fixed up.” She wraps an arm around him and leads him away, leaving Michael standing by himself. After a few beats, he’s joined by a man that makes his knees a little weak. He's so much taller than the brunette that he needs to look up, Michael's eyes level to the man’s chest, a white shirt stretched across the expanse tightly; bringing muscle to attention, but not too much. Just enough for the build of him. His skin is tan and covered with beautiful spiralling patterns of ink, sucking in Michael's attention from the man’s wrists all the way up to his neck and straight through to his brightly coloured red hair; falling beautifully down to his shoulders in waves.

  “Hey doll, you ready to get started?”

  “You’re beautiful. I mean- yes. What are we doing?” he hears the smack of his Squip hitting their palm against of their face, followed closely by Rich’s laughter.

  “Come on sweetheart; Rich, baby, what am I doing to his hair?” oh, right, they're in a hair salon. Mostly. Michael sits down in his chair and lets Jay put that hair bib thing around him while Rich digs something out of his pocket and gives it to the guy.

  “You sure he can handle that?” Michael fidgets in his seat. He hates not knowing what people are saying about him. Eric plants his paws on his master's legs, resting his head on the brunette’s lap and allowing himself to be petted. The pressure took Michael's focus away from the noise around him just for a minute. Until there's a hand in his hair and he might have almost smacked the hair stylist.

  “Alright, let's take off your glasses first. And these if that's okay?” he touches one of Michael's hearing aides, looking around at him in the mirror. A shake of the head.

  “That's cool, I can get around them. Just hold still for me and relax.” can he really tell how nervous he is just standing there? Michael cuts his own hair mist of the time, and Jeremy does it for him anytime when he can't. He can't see so he just closes his eyes, trying not to tense up when the sound of the buzz thing starts; getting closer until he can feel it on his scalp. He needed to re-buzz the sides, cool. Jay does something weird then hangs up the.. thing. Fingers comb through the top bit of Michael's hair, and it's actually pretty relaxing. Parting his hair and clipping off most of it and..

  “What's that?” Michael scrunches up his nose at the smell of whatever product is being slathered into his hair. Shit, wow, that fucking burns.

**Don't worry about it.**

_But-_

**Shh. I approved it, though you may not appreciate it i believe that it will be rewarding.**

_Why does it burn? It smells like my hair is on fire._

**Relax.**

He tries, sitting back and relaxing for probably five seconds before the panic is back again.

**Keep your eyes closed. I told you to relax.**

_I can't. What's going on, what's he doing, what-_

**Shh.**

The computer makes a strange noise, a buzzing similar to his pink noise but louder and all encompassing. It drowns out everything around him and the twenty minutes seemed like nothing.

**Michael**

He opens his eyes, squinting up at Jay. Did he say something? That's wild, he almost feels like he's kinda stoned.. off noise.

  “I'm gonna wash you out now doll, come on over.” he’s led over to the sinks and damn, he needs to let people wash his hair more often. It feels fucking fantastic to just lie back and let the warm water run through his hair. They repeat the process with some other.. substance, but this time it smells like of nice and Jay doesn't leave it in for as long.

**Oh, that will do nicely.**

Squip considers Michael as his hair is being brushed out and styled, approving of whatever had been done to his hair.

**Take a look**

It sweeps its arms towards the mirror, waiting for Michael to out on his glasses and stepping out of the way.

  “What the fuck?” he blinks, then looks again. Jesus Christ, what did he do?

  “Put it back.” Jay looks from him to Rich, grinning at the both of them.

  “Baby, I think it looks great. You two are _so_ cute.” he claps his hands together decisively and starting to clean up his station. Michael touches his hair, coming into contact with gel but nothing out of the ordinary for him. Jay did a nice job on the buzz, and shaved in a tapered line on the left side of his head which looks kind of cool. But… Michael pulls some strands of his hair out of their shape to inspect their bright red colour. Not all of his hair is red thank God, just one strip off the top; like the way Rich does his. It's.. not terrible? He can't really insult it, since it's exactly the same as Rich’s hair but they didn't dye all his hair blonde to match exactly; which He's thankful for. Michael flinches, a hand smacking against his back and staying to rest there.

  “Shit man, it looks great!” Rich grins genuinely up at him, small crinkles forming near his eyes, and little dips on his cheeks.

  “Thanks, it's.. not what I was expecting.” He smiles back and is surprised to feel like he means it. It's not that bad. Rich had gotten his hair touched up as well, his colour more vibrant and the ‘gay streak’ on his right side all touched up.

  “C’mere, we're not done yet.” He tugs Michael over the line between gross tile and slightly less gross carpet, where the entire building is different. Wooden tables are lined up with chairs on either side, and an extensive rack of nail polish colours is hung on the wall.

  “I don't think..” a short woman is already ushering them in, speaking too quickly for Michael to process what she’s even saying to him before he’s being pushed down into a chair beside Rich. What’s going on, they’re moving way too fucking fast. Eric paws at him from his left, bringing a smile to the brunette’s face and taking him back to the now. It’s cool. The short woman and a younger girl sit down in front of Rich and michael respectively, forcing him to look at another living person. She’s pretty, nicely done mascara highlighting brown eyes and a little tuft of dark hair sticking out from the front of her headscarf. She and the woman both speak with an accent Michael can’t place, but it does sound pleasant to the ear.

  “It’s been too long Rich, what can I do for you?” the woman, who is wearing a nametag but Michael couldn’t pronounce her name, is already holding both of the short boy’s hands, taking them in.

  “Do my usual for me, Aaliyah. And for him…” Rich pronounces her name like you would ‘Alleah’, with the clear ‘ah’ sound at both the beginning and end. Huh, it’s nice. What isn’t nice, is how Rich is looking at him, like he’s trying to figure out all of Michael’s inner thoughts and desires.

  “You want a French, Michael?” ew. No, Michael doesn’t want to french either of these girls or Rich, thanks.

**A french manicure.**

  “Yeah, tips would be cool.”

**With glitter.**

  “Uh- with a little glitter maybe.” the girl across from him, who looks to be called Eliza, takes both Michael’s hands and smiles shyly at him. She’s wearing a bit of pale pink lipstick. Rich is already relaxing, leaning back in his chair and grinning over at the boy beside him; who is trying to mirror the blonde’s position.

  “Is this the gayest afternoon you’ve ever had yet?”

  “Y’know, it’s pretty close.” Michael laughs.

  “Damn, there’s only so much I can do.” Rich winks at him salaciously, making a little clicking noise with his tongue and the roof of his mouth; the tip of his tongue fitting right into the gap produced by the crooked angle of one of his front teeth. That’s cute. Only a little though. He and Rich make idle chat while their nails are being fussed with, only nearly making the girls mess up once or twice via too much laughing on one or both of their parts. By the time everything is dry Michael needs a drink. No, not alcohol, just some liquid to refresh him and his very dry mouth after talking for so long. So, slushies are an obvious next stop. But first..

  “This is so pretty.” Michael holds out one of his hands to admire the polish, letting Rich take his other hand to look at it up close. The tips of his nails are a nice pristine white, and the rest are just covered in a simple clear coat with a pinch of glitter thrown in for some extra sass.

  “Hella gay. It suits you.”

**Look like you’re enjoying yourself.**

_I am enjoying myself._

**Smile more.**

_And talk less?_

Rich abruptly throws an arm around Michael, pulling them close together and stretching a large smile across his face; accompanied by a sort of fake sounding laugh. Michael joins with the awkward laughing, feeling uncomfortable all around right now.

  “Rich!! Hey dude, what’s shakin’!” he lets go of Michael to smack a hand into an offered high five handshake thing from..

  “Yo, Jakey-D! Th’ Fuck you doin’ here man?” Jake Dillinger.

**Not so tense. Relax.**

He catches Jake’s eye, getting an unpleasant chill up the back of his neck as the guy’s eyes rake across his body; from his head to his feet and back up again.

  “Aw dude, you know Mikey don’t you?” a pause, then Michael is being offered a high five that he’s pressured into reciprocating. Damn, that was a strong high five. It burns.

  “Yeah dude! Shit, you’re on fire.” Jake half gestures at his new red streak, making Michael sort of almost laugh. What’s going on? Why is this happening to him? Michael wants to go home, he isn’t having fun anymore.

  “Yeah, I decked him the fuck out. We’ve gotta blast though, shit to do y’know.” he gives Jake a fist bump and drags Michael off in the other direction, pulling him across the mall and all the way out into the parking lot.

  “Man he’s everywhere. Get Eric in the car, I’ll take you home.” the ride wasn’t as tense as it might’ve been, and actually ended up being pretty nice. Rich convinced Michael to let him pet Eric, and ended up kind of forcing the guy to take his phone number in exchange for the dog pets. He stands on the porch, watching the fucking Tesla pull out and drive away.

  “What just happened?” he blinks at the receipt in his hand, a phone number hastily scrawled across the back.

**Go inside, Michael.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda mixed about this one? Not about the Jeremy parts though I'm happy with him so far. Well, with how I'm writing him.

**Squip**

_Michael to SQUIP_

**_Unison_ **

Text Message

* * *

**Perfect, keep that little swing in your hips while you're walking.**

**No, make sure you're not swinging your arms. Slide one if your hands into the pocket of your jeans.**

Michael follows the instructions as they're given, practically feeling the confidence oozing off of him as he strolled through the hall, the occasional wave of quick greeting thrown his way. Wow. 

**Up ahead and to your right.**

He looks, finding Jeremy standing in front of his open locker. 

   “Hey, Jeremy!” he leans one arm against the closest locker to his friend, greeting him with a smile and a pat on the shoulder. Jeremy just looks at him. 

   “Michael? What happened to you?” he smiles, gesturing up at his hair in a way that lets the ginger see his nails too. 

   “You like it? I wasn't sure at first but-" 

   “Hey, dude, you know I always support you no matter what. But you could at least try not to  _ look _ like a fag y’know?” Michael flinches but keeps any hurt from reaching his eyes. That's just not like Jeremy. Sure, he’s a big practiser of ‘No homo’ but..

   "Anyways man, don’t sweat it.” Jeremy slaps him lightly on the back, closing his locker and looking directly over at his best friend. He really looks at Michael, but doesn’t have anything more to say about his new look. 

   “Man, I have a test first block today and I’m already over it. Skip with me?” he elbows Michael in the side, laughing at the remark as he starts to walk with him. 

**Yes.**

_      That was a joke _

**Yes.**

   “Let’s do it.” Jeremy turns to look at him again, a devilish grin growing on his face. 

   “Seriously?” Michael actually has a free period first block today so there’s nothing for him to skip, but if he doesn’t mention that then he’ll look more badass and rebel-y.

   “Hell yeah man, where are we going?”

   “Don't worry about it, you just drive.” Jeremy led Michael out into the parking lot and climbed into his passenger seat, plugging something into his maps app and letting it talk instead if trying to give directions himself.

   “You got a lighter, Michael?” 

   “Uh, yeah, I've got a few in the box.” Jeremy pops open the glove box and digs around, making an offended squeaky noise.

   “You keep weed in your car!?” 

   “Yeah, make sure you shove that back in the back." Michael takes a sharp turn, the gps telling him to go right at the last minute and almost making him miss it. 

   “The fuck are we going? The only shit in this part of town is weed plugs and a dog park.” he keeps following the disembodied voice, at least feeling more comfortable with where he s driving now. He knows this area pretty well. Hm. Michael reaches over and pauses the directions being spit at him to make two sharp right turns and jerk his poor car to a halt. 

**What are you doing? Proceed to where he wishes to go.**

   “C’mere Jeremy, get out of the car.” he swings open his own door, not bothering to take his keys out of the ignition before grabbing Jeremy by the wrist and pulling him along through the parking lot he'd pulled into. 

   “Michael, where are we going?” The ginger laughs a little, letting his friend pull him out into what looks like the dog park her mentioned before; maneuvering between trees like he's been through here before. They're definitely going uphill, and the sound of water is.. somewhere.

   “Here, you go first.” Michael steps out of the way to let Jeremy go out in front of him, going in for a full on hand hold when they're side by side. 

**Michael, your elevation has increased dramatically. Your likelihood of becoming injured is great, and increased further by the lack of sunlight.**

_      Shh _

Michael crowds Jeremy slightly when they start to move forward again, nearly running into him when his friend jerks back to a halt.

   “Michael, since when are we so far off the ground? What the hell?”

   “Keep going, it's cool. I'm up here all the time, you can make it over.” the ginger squirms and moves back over to where Michael is, looking at him expectantly.

   “You first.” whatever. Michael take shape a step back before jumping across the small gap between where they're standing and the patch of grass he wanted to get to, sticking the landing gracefully. He’s fallen before and man was that a swim. Oh yeah, there's nothing but water under the open air between the two cliff edges.

   “Jesus Christ. You jumped over an entire river!” 

   “The river is way down there.”  Jeremy looks at him blankly. 

   “Come on, it's fine. I got you.” the gap isn't that wide, but just a hair too wide to just step across. 

   “Yeah, but your legs are longer than mine. I'll fall and die and then my broken body will get washed away and fish will eat me.” Michael blinks at him. 

   “Fine.” he takes two full steps back and gets a slight running start before he jumps, but he missed completely when he was calculating.  Michael grabs him out of the air, crashing their chests together and pulling Jeremy backwards with him; hitting the grass behind them hard. Jeremy's hands are curled into his friend's jacket, head tucked down into the crook of his neck and eyes squeezed shut tightly. Michael can feel his heart beating beside his own. Oh man. If he had a dick, it would be a problem right now.

   “Jeez Mikey, I almost died.” Jeremy pushes himself up onto his hands, grinning down at Michael despite what he’d actually said. The first rays of daylight are making his ginger hair shine, and damn he looks even more like an angel than usual. Michael is going to jack off to this image so hard later. 

   “Oh, wow,” Jeremy breathes, eyes sweeping off to the side to locate the source of the sudden light, “we can see the sun coming up from here; it’s beautiful.”

**_“Not as beautiful as you.”_ ** It's tempting to look over at the computer when its words overlap with Michael's own, but Jeremy’s eyes had darted back to make contact with his and wow. 

   “Michael..” he licks his lips, top lip catching briefly in the gap between two teeth. He swallows thickly, throat working to get the saliva down. 

   “Please let go of me.” Michael's lips part to draw in a breath but he couldn't think of anything good enough to say.

**I'm sorry.**

   “I’m sorry.” he pulls his arms out away from Jeremy so the other boy can pull away almost immediately; stepping carefully around Michael and wrapping both arms around his body. He's not wearing a jacket, he must be cold. The brunette stands, taking a step towards Jeremy but still at a loss. 

**That's close enough. Keep a distance. Wait for him to speak first.**

There's a long pause, both boys keeping their gazes up at the rising sun; though Michael can't bring himself to enjoy it all that much. 

   “Michael..” Jeremy sighs, “take me back now.”

* * *

 

Michael sighs, leaning back against the cold off-colour tile of the bathroom and letting himself slide down to the floor. 

**Don't worry about it, we'll get him. It'll just take some time for him to come around. We will have to plan our next step carefully so’s to not-**

_      Look, just give me a minute okay? Can you just.. go?  _

It frowns at him, but seems to shrug a bit at the request.

**Very well.**

They fade from view, presumably leaving Michael alone for the time being. Okay. He needs to just. Think about what this happened. It’s not even being outright rejected that hurts, it’s the way Jeremy looked at him the whole ride home. Like he wanted Michael to.. Apologise? He didn’t do anything wrong, did he? No. he just.. Why did he think this would work? Jeremy’s never going to talk to him again. Michael slides his phone out of his pocket and tries anyway, even though his friend should be in class by now. 

Hey man, I'm sorry.

He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. He's calm. The bathroom door cracks open slightly and Michael is not calm in the slightest. Shit, fuck; he begins to furiously swipe at his face to get rid of the tear trails.

   “Michael?” the voice is definitely familiar, but he's not confident in placing it until he can fully see that bold streak of red cutting through Rich’s goldilocks blonde hair.

   “Hey, are you cool? I didn't see you this morning.” Michael blinks. Rich hit his s’s with a harsh ‘th',  his tongue catching on his front teeth instead of hitting the roof of his mouth. Rich caught him looking. 

   “Oh, sorry about that. My Squip took off to talk to yours. Can I sit with you?” he gestures, waiting for Michael's nod of approval before plopping down on the floor beside him. 

   “Hey, what're you doin’?” Rich chuckles a little, pulling Michael's hand away from his face gently. Huh. He hadn't even noticed, but he must've been scratching at his face. 

   “Shouldn't scratch up your pretty face like that, here.” He stands up, digging a washcloth out of his own backpack and running it under the faucet. 

   “Helps with tear stains too.” Michael takes it, pressing the cool cloth to his face and letting his shoulders drop. That does feel nice. He closes his eyes, ticking down his white noise a few notches so he can hear Rich sit back down a little ways away from him; paper rustling and floor creaming until he's settled. And then there's silence. But not uncomfortable silence. His phone vibrates, a sinking feeling forming in the pit of Michael's stomach before he's even looked. 

Don't be. Just don't pull shit like that. I'm not a fairy yknow

Hey, it could've been worse. That doesn't stop the refresh of tears in his eyes. He looks to Rich, surprised to find the boy leaned against the wall a little ways away; eyes trained on a well worn leather bound book. The way He's holding it, and the ginger way He flips every page.. it must be old or important to him. Maybe both, actually. Seeing someone usually so high strung that at ease is.. comforting somehow. 

   “So can I ask?” Rich looks up from his book, and man that's cute. Michael never noticed the way his left Incisor is just slightly crooked, leaving barely enough room for his bottom lip to get caught in the space. And damn that little lisp is just. Shit wait he was talking.

   “What?” 

   “About your, uh, things. I'm pretty sure you're not deaf so.” Oh. Not a conversation topic Michael expected but it's not the worst. 

   “Oh, well, they're kinda hearing aides but they make pink noise in my ears so the noise around me isn't too loud. Like, my hearing is super sensitive so everything is a lot louder than it should be, and I mean everything; so everything is all on one volume setting no matter how far away or close it is to me. The pink noise helps balance so I'm not overwhelmed. Here, you want to put them on?” It's quiet enough in here. Michael pulls both his hearing aides off and holds them out for Rich to take, which he does with some hesitation. The boy visibly flinches when he gets the things hooked around his ears, slipping them right back off and giving them back to their owner. 

   “Jesus.. So, you're fine taking them off?” Michael shrugs, getting the hearing aides back on over his ears. 

   “As long as it's quiet." Rich seems content with that answer, moving back over to his spot and going back to his book. He's so calm. Michael just can't be used to it. And he's so.. nice? He wants to ask about it but would that be mean? He lets the silence prevail, listening to Rich breathe and his own heartbeat. 

**Michael.**

He jumps, making a squaking noise in surprise when his Squip reenters the picture. 

   “Jesus fuck- where did you come from?” Rich looks up, then off away from Michael presumably at his own Squip. 

**Have you sorted yourself out? When did Richard join you?**

It holds up a finger, the glow in its eyes brightening as it checks the backlog for the time passed while they were gone. 

**Hm.**

_      Hm? _

**Nothing, yet. Are you planning on returning to class?**

_      Should I? _

**There's no need to. I can provide any information you may need to know. Go home with Richard.**

_      What? _

Michael does a double take, squinting up at his supercomputer. 

_      I'm not- _

**I did not tell you to give up on Jeremy nor to do anything quote on quote inappropriate with Richard. You simply appreciate his company.**

_      Still, I can't- _

   “Hey, Mikey,” he flinches at the nickname, “you wanna skip out the rest if today and hang out? We can play Xbox, or whatever.”

_      You put him up to it.  _

   “Yeah- sure.” Rich stands up, extending an arm down to offer his hand to Michael. He and Jeremy had plans for after school today. The other boy's palm is slightly pink and warm to the touch, his fingers strong as they wrap around Michael's hand and pull him up off his ass.


	6. Chapter 6

**Squip**

_**Unison** _

_Michael to SQUIP_

Text message 

* * *

  Rich’s house is bigger than Michael's future. That doesn’t even make sense, but it’s true. It isn't a mansion or anything but it definitely has more than three bedrooms; though Michael didn't get to snoop any when they got there. The minute they stepped in the door Rich dragged him straight into his bedroom to fire up the Xbox. He has just about every game that's been released for the system, but Michael is a huge sucker for DBZ games. And here they are, battling Vegeta vs Goku and using every dirty trick to pull out on top; in and out of game. Rich elbows him in the side, still mashing buttons on his controller but Michael isn't fazed and pushes right back. The match ends with the brunette's controller on the ground, both of Rich’s arms around him to keep him immobile while he wins. 

    “Fuck yeah!” he lets go of Michael to throw both arms over his head and cheer, leaving himself wide open for a tackle from the other boy; toppling him backwards against the memory foam beneath them. Rich laughs, letting Michael pin him when really he could probably snap the guy in half if he wanted to. How did Michael never notice his dimples before? They dip cutely into his face when he laughs, adding to the laugh lines at the side of his eyes and painting a picture that the brunette's fingers itch to touch. No homo for Rich or anything, he’s just really pretty. While Michael is distracted, Rich takes advantage of his good looks to push the other boy over and flip overtop of him. Oh wow. Blonde Hair is falling down into Rich’s face and covering his baby blues, strands of red mixed in with the gold. His hair looks soft. Michael would love to run his fingers through it and give it just the slightest of tugs to see how it would feel squeezed In his fist. Wait, no, he meant that he wants to-

**Kiss him.**

_    What? _

It's hard to not physically change the expression on his face, smile staying put.

**You heard me. Kiss him. Now.**

Michael’s gaze strays from Rich’s hair to his thin, chapped looking lips. Despite looking like they could use some chapstick, they're pretty and pink and still seem like they'd be soft. 

_    How does this help with Jeremy? _

The Squip doesn't have time to generate a response because goddamn it Michael doesn't want to get shocked for disobeying later. He shifts under Rich and musters up any courage he has to squeeze his eyes shut and go in for the kiss. The lips against his are warm and waxy; coated in a layer of chapstick that just barely hides their rough surface. Their owner was startled, drawing back for a fraction of a second before diving straight into that shit; one arm curling around Michael to draw him closer and pull them both upright and the other going straight to his face, guiding him to a better angle to receive the many kisses being given to him. And of course Michael isn't just taking them, reciprocating as best as he can with how fast Rich is going. Obviously he's the inexperienced one here, which is to say he has no experience. He lets Michael breathe, hanging back to catch his breath. His glasses are fogged up. Wow. Michael's thought process is all fucked up. Talk about not being able to think straight. Was that his first kiss? No, it couldn't be. Yeah, there was… well when he was a kid he must have… no, that was totally his first. At 17. What a loser.

**Michael.**

He blinks. Rich is looking at him like he just got asked a question.

    “What?” he still sound a little out of breath. Or like he's panicking. Rich laughs and kisses him again, slower this time. Instead of a shit ton of quick contact Michael can't keep up with,the blonde drags the individual kisses out. He kind of wishes he'd heard what the guy said. This is.. nice? Though. Maybe. Is Michael having a good time? Yes. He thought it would feel wrong or weird but it kind of doesn't? Rich bites his bottom lip, and yeah that's really nice. 

**What was it you wanted to do to his hair?**

Oh fuck yeah. He slides one hand up Rich’s arm and finds his hair, running his fingers through the soft strands. Wow, it is so soft. He must condition. He finds a nice place to ball up his hand and pull; breath audibly hitching in the blonde’s throat. He kisses Michael a little harder, moving one of his hands clear from the brunette’s shoulder to his thigh. That's cool. Rich has kind of scooted himself between Michael's legs and He's glad that he's packing today because man would that be obvious. Speaking of his packer, he's also glad that it passes the squeeze test because here he is. Being squeezed. That's.. weird. He can feel his packer moving just a little bit with Rich’s hand and pushing back against him and that's just a little much. Their kiss session breaks when the other boy moves his head to press his lips to his neck instead, and Michael doesn't feel as great about this anymore. The air in the room touches his skin, shortening separated from his stomach so Rich can skim his fingers down the trail of coarse hair there; following it down past the waistline of his jeans and. Michael grabs his wrist with both hands. He had opened his mouth to say something but now didn't know what to say to the guy when he pulls back up to look at him again. 

    “Ah, Shit,” he takes both his hands off of Michael and rocks backwards so he's not leaning over him, “oh god-" what? Rich is freaking the fuck out. Did he forget that he was with Michael and now he's regretting everything in his life because he isn't gay? Or just because Michael is gross. He feels kinda gross. 

**You're crying.**

Oh. When did he start doing that? Whoops. Michael wipes his face, cleaning off the tears and swiping them off his glasses with a quick pass on his shirt. 

    “Hey, it’s cool; don’t freak out.” he laughs a little, giving Rich a playful shove in hopes that he'll stop freaking out. 

    “Do you want me to take you home-or back to school for your car?” god, what a sweetie.

    “But we haven't finished the tournament yet.” he flashes Rich a grin, finally getting the guy to crack a smile. He looks at Michael for a few long moments, lips tilted in thought until it's formed enough for him to speak. 

    “You're different. Than I thought you'd be, I mean.”

**Hm.**

Michael ignores his Squip to stare at Rich, doing a double take at that one. 

    “ _ I’m  _ different? You don't have room to talk buddy. You used to beat me up and call me a fag. And by used to, I mean like three weeks ago. And now you're shoving your hands down my pants.” he laughs, but the blonde looks a little embarrassed about it.

    “Yeah, well, I dunno if you noticed but all the ‘populars’” he puts air quotes around that, “at our school are huge douchebags. To get in with them you need to be as big of an asshole as possible. Or just really fucking pretty.” 

    “Sooo, I’ll get to act like that too?” Rich blanks, looking at Michael like he just said something totally absurd. 

    “Mikey. I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you’re fucking gorgeous. The only thing that could make you any prettier…” his eyes light up, “don’t move.” he gets up and shoots of into his bathroom, knocking several things over in there and scrambling back in holding a sparkly pink case of some kind. 

    “Okay, take off your glasses.” 

    “Uh-”

**Do it.**

He does it. Rich opens up the case and holy shit it has like five layer things on it, but whatever is on it is just a blur of colours. The blonde starts taking things out, holding them up to Michael’s face and the putting them back to try something else.

    “Our skin tones are so different.. Oh, this will look nice. I need you to hold still, alright?” he picks up one of Michael’s hands and drags something.. Oh. He swatches a few things on the side of his hand.

    “I don’t have any dark foundation shades for you but I can still highlight you. Are you squeamish or is it cool for me to wing and line you?” he sounds like one of those YouTube girls that’s aggressive about makeup. 

    “Go crazy.” Rich tilts the brunette’s chin, gently touching Michael’s skin and asking him to close his eyes. It’s a weird feeling and almost tickles, the small brush leaving a trail of cold liquid across his eyelid and out a little to the side. Perfect on the first try, Rich is a legend. The second eye takes four tries, but hey the first one is dry when the wings finally match. 

    “Here, can you hold this right here under your lashes? No, keep your eyes closed.” Michael takes a tissue from him and keeps it pressed under his eye for some reason. He’s not going to question it. Rich dusts eyeshadow on his lid, going in for several layers and giving a light blow when he’s finished to get rid of any extra powder; repeating the process on the other eye. 

    “Open your eyes and look up.” He goes at Michael with the mascara wand, and damn it his eyelashes are going to end up hitting his glasses. Is this the price of beauty? Rich finishes him off with some liquid lipstick, turning his entire case towards Michael so he can look into the mirror attached to it. Hot damn, he looks fucking good. 

    “Hell yeah, you’re hot as fuck.” Rich grins at him, flipping the other shelves of his makeup case closed and handing the guy his glasses.  

    “I am not.” his eyelashes totally hit the insides of his lenses but Michael is going to deal with the fact that this is now his reality. Yeah, he looks good, but Rich is giving him too much credit here. 

    “Oh here dude, gotta make sure that shit dries.” oh yeah, lipstick smudges are a bitch to… clean. Rich kisses him and he forgets how to breathe for a second. Right. Michael curls his hands around the blonde’s shoulders, holding on for dear life while he’s serenaded; some of Rich’s hair brushing up against his face and making him laugh. You’d think that would kill the mood but the other boy just smiled back at him and went back in, this time with some tongue action thrown in there. Michael thinks that’s kinda gross honestly, but also hot at the same time. Yeah, definitely hot. Rich curls an arm around his waist and damn does it feel nice to just be held. His phone rings loudly, because of course it does. Ugh it’s Jeremy’s ringtone too. 

    “You need to get that?”

**No.**

    “Yeah.” 

**Do not.**

    “Heey, Jeremy.”

    “Michael, my part of rehearsal ended twenty minutes ago where the fuck are you?” was he supposed to take Jeremy home after that play thing today? Yeah, he was. Shiiiiit.

    “Fuck man, I’m a shitty person. I’ll be there in like 10?” he looks at Rich, who nods.

    “‘Be here’? Where did you go? I can see your car through the window in here.”

    “Ohhh, haha, y’know. I’m. In a place that isn’t there.” there’s background noise, then the opening and closing of a door. Jeremy’s voice comes back through the receiver as a whisper.

    “Dude, are you high?” Michael can’t help it, he laughs. And Rich must’ve been listening in, because he goes off almost as soon as he does. 

    “No dude, it’s like Tuesday. I was just, uh, doing something.”

**Just hang up, it’s a lost cause.**

    “Am I ‘something?’” 

    “Who’s that?”

**Hang up.**

    “Hey, I’ll be there in like 10 minutes okay?” Michael hangs up on Jeremy. 

    “Mic, we’re only like five minutes away from the school; if that.” he grins at Rich, tossing his phone aside and pushing the other boy down onto his back.

    “Yeah, I know.”

* * *

They roll up in the parking lot twenty minutes later. Michael’s makeup is still looking bomb, but his shirt is kind of inside out.

_    What did you get me into? _

**Not enough. You tried to remove your shirt and hit Richard in the face so you put it back on. Perhaps there's some people that just can’t be fixed.**

_    Oh, shut up. _

Rich pulls up right next to Michael’s car, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder.

    “Don’t get killed in there.” very encouraging. He puts up the space door and slides out, saluting his new friend. Thankfully Jeremy isn’t waiting outside so he’s probably still in there fawning over Christine. Fuck Christine, Michael is way prettier than her. Okay in the door and the auditorium is to the.. Left. Both sets of large door leading into the room are closed, but it looks like one of them is still-

    “Hey headphones.” a hand lands on his shoulder. Michael squeaks. God, why is Jake so tall but still so quiet? The raven physically has to tilt his head down to look at Michael, that stupid grin on his stupid face. With his fucking straight-ass teeth and lady killing smile. Fuck this guy, he’s too pretty to actually be a thing. He braces himself for some kind of blow, physical or verbal, but receives nothing.

    “You’re looking fine as hell today kitten. Coming in late for play auditions I hope?”

    “Uh, No, I’m-” Jake shushes him almost in unison with his Squip chiming in to tell Michael to shut up.

**Allow him to continue.**

_    But I don’t want him to- _

    “Well damn, I bet you’d give me a run for my money for the lead.” everything he says always either sounds like a threat or a seduction attempt, there’s no inbetween. 

**Tell him you’re shy.**

    “Ahh, thanks but I’ve got a bad case of stage fright.” he waves a hand to dismiss the idea, laughing nervously because why is Jake talking to him. The guy laughs, finally taking his hand off Michael to flip his own hair out of his face. 

    “A shy one then, that’s adorable. Maybe I can help you through some of that performance anxiety then, huh? I’d love to watch you-”

    “Michael!” oh, thank god. Jake’s smile drops. 

    “Hey Jeremy, you ready to go?”

    “I’ve been ready to go for half an hour, asshole.” he gives Michael a punch on the shoulder, but it’s playful and the brunette can feel relief wash through him. They’re cool.

**Suave, not too strong.**

    “Fashionably late, as always.” he gives a little bow, making Jeremy smile but only actually getting a laugh from Jake. Who is still here because.. Reasons, he guesses. His ginger friend looks the much taller boy up and down.

    “Let’s go?” he’s still looking at Jake. 

    “Yeah man, gotta get you home in time for dinner.” Michael pats his hand on Jeremy’s back, but his friend flinches and shuffles a bit away from him. Right.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm addicted to Huniepop


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This went on for way too long and tbh I only really like the end but.
> 
> On a good note!! Longest chapter of the fic so far at just over 4k words!! Yeah I don't have a life

**SQUIP**

_Michael to SQUIP_

**_Unison_ **

Text message

* * *

 

**Of course it will go swimmingly. Though, don’t be nearly so on hands with Richard. And do not drink anything they give you. Anyone but Richard of course, he understands. And, do not find yourself alone with Jacob.**

    “Mhm.”

**And whilst there, of course be sure not to come on too strong. Jeremy is still having trouble with it all and you have to ease him into it.**

    “Right.” 

**She will be there as well. Be civil, polite, and do not push too hard. I know what you should do and say to achieve what we are doing here.**

    “Yeah.” 

**Michael, are you listening to what I am saying?”**

    “Mhm.” Squip shocks him, messing up the wing he’d been trying to draw in. 

     “Ow! What gives? I’m trying to get ready.” 

**You have to listen to me. Do you know what you’re doing?**

    “Hey, I’ve got this. Trust me.”

**Sure.**

Michael wipes off the stray line and starts again, finishing his wing and touching up his face a little because  _ something  _ was distracting him while he was doing makeup. This is going to be kinda risky. He invited Jeremy out to a little party but kind of.. Didn’t tell him Rich and Jake were going to be there. Whoops. He’s sure it’ll be fine.

**He is going to be upset. Do not let it get out of hand.**

Okay, maybe it won’t go well. Oh man. Eric nudges his leg, pushing him until he can get at his owner’s hand. Right, don’t freak out. Rich will be there.

**Oh, and Michael?**

    “Yeah?”

**Do not lean on Rich as you have been as of late. I believe i have allowed the two of you to become too close. Jeremy is still out objective, is he not?**

    “Of course he is!” Michael grabs up his jacket, checking to make sure his new patches aren’t going to fall off before pulling it on. Rich gave him a sweet koi patch that he stitched on there himself so it looks a little iffy.

**You did a fine job. Richard will be here in a few moments, put on some cologne.**

He does, making sure he smells great before he does anything else. He leaves his hoodie unzipped to show off his Slipknot t-shirt and the black studded belt holding up his acid washed jeans. Squip picked out the entire outfit and Michael thinks that he’s looking pretty cool. Even if it took him at least a half an hour to get his contacts in. It just can’t be natural to touch your eyes like that.

**Give Eric a treat before you go. Richard is here.**

Who knew supercomputers have a soft spot for dogs. Michael gives his dog a pet and a few treats so he won’t bark at the knock at the door. Okay, hurry up and pull on his shoes before..

    “You goin’ out?” aw, shit. 

    “Yeah, Dad, I’m about to leave.” he barely got one shoe on, damn these hightops. 

    “You’re leavin’ the house like that?” the man gestures at Michael’s everything, hand shaking as it’s raised. Most of him is shaking though.

**Hm, he appears intoxicated.**

    “Drunk already? It’s not even five.”

**Michael- do not provoke him.**

    “Y’know maybe mom wouldn’t have-” the Squip shuts off his vocal chords, making him physically unable to speak. 

**Stop.**

He finishes lacing up his shoes and goes to leave, his father’s eyes still on him. He claps a hand on Michael’s shoulder, stopping him mid step to look his kid up and down.

    “I’d better not see you with that junk on your face when you come home. If your ass doesn’t get beat while you’re out there,” he jabs a finger towards the door “then I’ll do it.” 

**_“Yes sir”_ ** Squip forces him to bark out the affirmative, making him scurry out the door straight into Rich’s chest. 

    “Hey Mikey!” he laughs, taking a step back so Michael can stand up and brush himself off. He’s all dressed up for a night out; meaning that Michael can see most of his chest via his sick V-neck and some thigh action from the holes in his acid wash jeans. Nice. 

    “Hey man.” he gives Rich one of those high fives that turns into a hug and it's nice. The stress and anxiety from his dad just melts off. Rich smells nice. Like the Swagger line of Old Spice shit.

     “You ready to light up the town?” he elbows the brunette, making him stumble on the stairs and earning a shove in return from Michael. They climb into his fancy ass car and Michael reaches out for his seatbelt, but Rich grabs his wrist to hold him still.

    “You sure you’re cool? I don’t mean to pry but.. Walls are only so thick.” shit. He looks all worried too. Why does he have to be such a good person, things would be so much better if he was an asshole. 

**They would not.**

    “Y’know,”  **Lie to him.** “I’m okay. Dads will be dads, right?” he laughs it off, hoping that even if Rich doesn’t believe him he’ll drop the subject. He looks super uncomfortable, but he slowly lets go of Michael’s hand and starts the car. 

    “Hey, Mikey?” damn it. 

    “Yea-” he turns his head, interrupted before he can get a word out by the gentle press of Rich’s lips against his. 

    “That’s fucking gay.” Rich laughs in his face. They settle into comfortable silence, their Squips buzzing in the background as they drive. For how he is, the blonde takes driving pretty seriously. He talks while he’s driving, sure, but he never takes his eyes off the road or his hands off the wheel unless they’re at a full stop. And he always makes that face when he’s driving. The concentrated face where his lips sort of curl into a scowl and his eyebrows furrow like he’s pissed at something. He makes the same face while he’s doing homework and it’s adorable as fuck. 

    “You directing me or are you gonna plug me into Google Maps?” oh yea, he doesn’t know where Jeremy lives. His hands shake a little while he types in the address, setting his phone up on the dash so the Maps AI can shout at Rich. 

    “You sure it’s cool to bring him? I offered because, well, you aren’t subtle, but if he stresses you out too much we can just ditch him.” what a sweetheart. If only it was that easy. Jeremy is so introverted, he’s been preparing to go to this party for almost as long as Michael. Emotionally, at least. 

    “No way dude, I’m fine.” Rich makes a blatant wrong turn, veering off into a gated community; punching in the little code and sailing in like he belongs here. Jeremy doesn’t..

**Say nothing.**

He stays quiet. They pull up in an empty driveway and Rich honks the horn a few times, no doubt disturbing the fragile suburban peace on the entire street. Michael still says nothing. The house in front of them is gorgeous, with more windows than the brunette can count and decked out in so many halloween decorations that he’s sure they must’ve cost more than his entire house. They’re parked in front of a three and a half car garage with a cute little winding sidewalk from the driveway to the front door that goes through a fairy garden. Little houses sit nestled in shiney rocks and surrounded by flowers, not a single footprint or disturbance. The glass door slams open, breaking the peace and revealing who lives in this expensive ass house. Of course it had to be Jake.

    “Hey, you mind..” Rich doesn’t have to finish. Michael climbs straight over the console into the backseat, buckling back up before Jake even gets to the car. The comfortable silence with Rich is completely shattered by his loud voice and the radio station he turned on immediately. He doesn’t even put on his seatbelt. Now that bugs the fuck out of Michael. He’s loud, he’s mildly rude, he has no concept of personal boundaries, AND he doesn’t wear a seatbelt? What an asshole. Honestly, does he know the statistics of the passenger vs driver dying with a seatbelt? If they were to crash into something Rich would blame himself forever just because he didn’t have enough decency to-

**You’re shaking.**

Right. Michael picks up the string of his hoodie to chew on it, focusing directly out at the scenery around them. Car rides calm him down. Sometimes when he’s having an issue and can’t cool down, Jeremy takes him for a ride, even though he isn’t supposed to drive without a license. Jeremy They’re going to pick up Jeremy now. No matter what he says and no matter how nervous he can make Michael, he’s always been there for him to lean on. They’re already in the right neighbourhood. 135, 137, 139, 141, 143. They pull up beside Mr. Heere’s car. Not even a minute later, his phone vibrates.

Dude, a fancy ass car just pulled up in my driveway.

The FBI is finally here for my illegal music and Musical bootlegs.

Jeez, what a guy. Michael fucking loves him. 

Not today Jer. Guess who’s in that fancy ass car?

No fuckin way

Jeremy sends a string of eggplants and water drop emojis, followed by a few of those ironic okay emojis for good measure. Hot. He didn’t know Jeremy had a thing for cars. He comes barreling out of the house without a jacket and one of his shoes still untied, not bothering to lock the door behind him in his rush to get to the fancy car. Rich waves. Jeremy stops and looks from Rich to Jake and then finding Michael to glare at him. 

    “What the fuck?” he hisses, climbing into the backseat with his friend and hitting him lightly. 

    “Don’t be such a negative Nancy! You get to ride in his awesome car and someone else is gonna buy you drinks at a shady bar that serves minors who bribe them.” Jeremy can’t see a downside to this, but he still isn’t happy.

    “Where are we even going? And don’t tell me you’re letting one of them drive us home later” he’s still talking under his breath, leaning over to whisper harshly at Michael while the car is moving.

    “Rich doesn’t drink dude, it’s cool.” he doesn’t have a clue where they’re going though, so hopefully Michael doesn’t get axe murdered at the bar.

    “How do you know that? When did you start hanging out with these guys anyway? Last time I saw you and Rich together he was beating the shit out of you in a school bathroom.”

    “Y’know” Michael makes a vague gesture off at the distance, not knowing what to say to Jeremy about that. He’s still been hanging out with him, but he’s been spending a lot of time with Rich too. He just never really mentioned that to Jeremy. Whoops. And as for Jake.. he doesn’t really ‘hang out’ with the guy. He just seems to show up where Michael is all the time. But he’s not.. Awful company? He invited Michael out with the boys tonight so he can’t really complain. They slow down and stop, parking in what probably isn’t a real spot in a dark and shady lot with one street light that isn’t working all that well. They’re all going to get murdered. Michael gets out of the car prepared to get stabbed right there, but all he gets is Jake’s hand on his shoulder. God, stop touching him. Now he’ll say something douche-y in 3, 2, 1…

    “You ever play DnD Mikey?” … What? Jake laughs at him, running off to harass Rich. 

    “You told me Christine was gonna be here.” Jeremy huffs, hugging his arms around himself to smooth down the goosebumps on his arms. He should’ve worn a jacket, it’s cold outside. 

    “They told me she would be; we haven’t even gone inside yet dude.” Jeremy is shaking and honestly it’s making Michael’s heart hurt. Rich waves them over, face red and chest still heaving from… whatever he and Jake had been doing over there. 

    “Welcome to Reality’s End, Mikey.” he waves his arm towards the bar and honestly, the building couldn’t be any less impressive. He just looks at the blonde. 

    “Okay, fine, come on.” Jake holds the door open and they file in, the inside of the place a few degrees above what it was outside and smelling strongly of cinnamon. It’s loud and the floor is kind of sticky but.. The whole place is pretty calm in a not-calm sort of way. Everyone is sitting around their tables yelling at each other, alcohol spilled on most tables and a fair amount of customers too. That’s not the weird thing, though.

    “What the fuck?” Jeremy elbows him, but Michael doesn’t know what to tell him. The entire bar is DnD themed.

    “Sweet right? The guys that run the place graduated a few years ago so we’re tight. Our tables over here, looks like some of the guys are already waiting for us.” Rich shoves both of them inside and towards the back were some familiar faces are already sitting. Jeremy gets in there so fast it makes Michael a little sad. 

    “Christine! Hey!” she giggles like a stupid anime person, like Jeremy amused her or some shit. What a bitch. 

**Simmer down.**

_       Whatever. I look better than her. _

Rich plops down in the seat two away from Christine, deterring Jeremy from sitting between them and taking the chair beside Dustin instead. Michael tunes out the chatter, more interested in how fucking shiny everything is. Glitter in the tables and in the paint on the walls and just everywhere. This is the gayest place he’s ever seen. There’s hearts and dragons and nude faeries on the walls and all the lights are tinted blue to make it looks magical. Or so the bartender gets to watch drunk nerds trip. Probably both. A glass mug hits the table in front of him, froth splashing over the rim and onto the table. He was about to tell Jake to take it back, but the fizz at the top is already dying and it doesn’t smell like beer. Michael is staring at a huge ass cup of apple juice.

**Richard made arrangements with him already. You will not be having any alcohol tonight.**

Michael can roll with that. He’s never really been a booze man anyway. Jeremy is looking at his drink like he’s expecting it to me spiked, but after a sip or two he accepts that it’s fine. Chatter dies around the table and Jake stands up to raise his glass and speak to the rest of the guys. And Christine.Michael didn’t mean to, but he totally tunes the guy out so he can stare at Jeremy. He looks really good in this lighting, the blue bringing out the natural contour of his face. Michael wishes he could take a picture so he can jack off to it later, because he really does look fucking beautiful; the sharp angle of his cheekbones clearer than it’s ever been in normal lighting. He would look so good in makeup, a little contour could really bring out his face structure. But Jeremy would never agree to it, cuz that would be gay.

**Pay attention.**

Oh, he is paying attention. To how much he wants to fuck Jeremy.

    “Michael.” Rich elbows him, taking him back into the conversation that is apparently on him. Shit.

**Your character.**

Oh, fuck, okay. He takes down the name and class of his old DnD character and rolls for stats so they can move on, grinning when Jeremy looks uncomfortable doing the same. He played one game of DnD with Michael’s old group and hated every second of it. He’s a nerd, but not really a table top kind of guy. They roll for DM and start, the buzz of excitement and alcohol helping things along so much that Jeremy even looks like he’s at least not in pain. And he’s a little drunk, which helps pretty much everything. Rich, as DM, is doing a bomb ass job keeping Christine and Jake’s characters around each other so they have an excuse to keep talking to each other and honestly, sitting close together like that, they really would make a cute couple. Michael Mell: matchmaker. So Rich is doing most of the work, but that’s just because he’s closer to Jake. 

    “Give me good luck?” Christine turns to Jake, dice in hand. He wraps both his arms around her to help her roll, making the poor girl swoon a little. She must think she’s so cute. With her face and hair and tiny body. What a bitch.

**Get up with Jeremy.**

He looks over to see that his friend is standing up to get another drink and Michael springs up to join him, grabbing his own empty cup to get another one too.

    “Y’know,” Jeremy looks over at him, “I can’t tell if this is better or worse than I was expecting.” he hands Michael a drink and he takes a swig, coughing. Oh, wow, he should’ve checked that first. Jeremy laughs at him, knocking back his own shot glass and raising an eyebrow in challenge. Fine, he can at least finish this one. 

**Michael-**

_       It’s fine, a little won’t hurt anything. _

Jeremy slides the empty shorts back to the bartender and catches the two new ones the guy slides back. Michael forgot that Jeremy is into alcohol. He can’t let the guy one up him. 

**Perhaps you should pass.**

_       Last one. Two won’t do anything. _

The computer grumbles about it, but he is spending time with Jeremy so The Squip can’t complain too much about it. Not like he’s getting drunk or anything.

**それ和いたい**

_       What? _

**それを止める**

The Squip is freaking out, visibly glitching in the corner of Michael’s vision and continuing to speak in Japanese. It must be broken. Jeremy nudges him.

    “What’s up with you?” okay, ignore the computer for now.

    “Nothing.” he shrugs it off, swirling the probably whisky or something equally as strong in his glass instead of drinking it. The ginger boy is just looking at him, squinting a little in the off lighting.

    “You’re..” he thinks about it, “sparkly.” he finishes, referring to the glitter Michael topped off his eyeshadow with before he left. Or maybe his highlight, though it isn’t all that bright today. 

    “Yeah, I splashed on some glitter. Does it look good?” he was a little hesitant to ask, but Jeremy brought up the topic so it should be cool just to ask. He’s the one Michael wanted to impress anyway. Jeremy hesitates.

    “... yeah.” he sets down his glass and takes a step closer to Michael, raising a hand and skimming his fingers gently across Michael’s cheekbone; stroking his thumb down his friend’s cheek as his hand makes its way down to rest at the base of his neck. 

    “Uh, Jeremy..” he can smell the alcohol on the ginger’s breath as he leans closer, shushing Michael gently. He swallows. Jeremy’s lips brush against his. God, this is everything Michael has ever been waiting for. They’re connected for a split second at most, giving Michael barely a taste of his dreams before Jeremy is gone; hand closely following his face to wipe the back across his mouth, a sour look on his face. The brunette doesn’t even know what to say because what the fuck was that? He just. Looks at his friend. And Jeremy looks back, head tilted to the side. 

    “Huh.” he grabs the front of Michael’s shirt and pulls him in closer, crushing their mouths together as well as most of their bodies. Jeremy grinds up against him, pushing his tongue past Michael’s lips and down his throat. Michael. Michael doesn’t know what to do with himself. It’s slightly gross but that’s just a him thing so he can’t hold it against the guy; or anything for that matter. Jeremy could tell him that he killed a man right about now and that would be fine because he is  _ living _ . He pushes Michael away.

    “Well,” Jeremy takes an extra step back and fixes himself up, “I thought I’d give it a try y’know?” he makes a sweeping gesture between himself and his friend.

    “Give.. what, a try?”

    “You know, the whole gay thing.” Michael blinks. He didn’t hear that right.

    “What?” Jeremy repeats himself, and yeah, he heard that correctly. 

    “Y’know,” Michael feels a rush of adrenaline mixed with white hot anger, “I don’t think you should say stuff like that Jeremy. It’s insulting.” he snapped a little more than he meant to, but this has been building up for too long for Michael to be any nicer about it. 

    “We’ve been friends for a long time, and you’ve been really great about everything since I came out but lately.. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if you started calling me a girl again. I don’t know what happened, but I really don’t like it.” no, he isn’t tearing up. Jeremy looks back at him, an expression on his face that Michael has never seen before.

    “Michael, that’s different! I would never-”

    “How is it different, Jeremy? Not once, not once have you called me anything but Michael since the day I told you. Why is this so different? Am I going to have to nearly kill myself over this too for you to take me seriously?” okay, he’s crying now. But just because there’s tears streaming down his face, that doesn’t mean Michael isn’t still pissed.

    “Michael..” Jeremy reaches out to touch him, but his hand is smacked away before he even gets close. He wipes the tears off his face with the ends of his sleeves, smearing his makeup. 

    “Michael, please-” he pushes his friend away, turning around and walking away from Jeremy. He pushes through the bar, not shy about getting through the clumps of people in his way. 

    “Take me home.” Rich turns around, dice still mid-roll in his hand and smile dying on his face as he takes Michael in. 

    “What happened?”

    “Take me home.” his friend looks around, eyes presumably finding Jeremy still at the bar behind him. Michael shakes his head. No, he doesn’t want to sit through a car ride with him right now.

    “Come on.” Rich gets up, tossing his dice off to someone else to free up his arm to wrap around Michael. He doesn’t say anything else; no more questions, no trying to pry, just a strong hand on the small of his back; grounding him. The blonde turns off the radio when they get in the car, letting Michael sit in the silence and look out the window.

    “Where are we going?” his eyes are a little blurry with tears, but he can tell that they aren’t going the right way.

    “Home.” he’s quiet after that, watching the headlights of other cars zoom by until they turn over into a familiar neighbourhood. Rich is taking him home. 

**んー何？   Where are you?**

Oh, it’s back.

_       Going home with Rich. _

**What- give me a moment to check the records.**

The computer still sounds a little off, and their appearance is fuzzy around the edges, but it’s back and filling up the silence with its buzzing. Michael kind of missed it.

**Well you’ve made a mess.**

Yeah, he sure did. God, he’s going to start up with the tears again. 

**..It’s okay. We can fix it.**

    “Hey, we’re here.” Rich places a gentle hand on his shoulder, smiling softly at him. 

    “Come on in, alright? We have ice cream.” the offer makes Michael smile, but the laugh he snorts out sounds more like a whimper. Rich is a blessing, but he still feels like an asshole. 

    “Jeremy..”

    “It’s fine, someone else can take him home. I’m more worried about you right now.” Michael smiles. 

    “Yeah, alright.”


	8. Chapter 8

**SQUIP**

_**Unison** _

_Michael to SQUIP_

Text message

* * *

  Michael couldn't drag himself out of Rich’s bed until after sundown the next day, and that was only because the guy made him food and he just couldn’t say no to that. Especially because the ‘food’ was actually cupcakes. Rich is an angel. A warm, cuddly angel that can bake but not cook. Michael stayed at his house for three days before he started feeling bad about it and asked Rich to take him home. His dad was already passed out, half on the couch and half falling off onto the floor. He didn’t call or text once while Michael was gone to make sure he wasn’t dead, so he doesn’t bother waking the man up to tell him that his only son is home and not laying in a ditch or three states away. Fuck him. Michael sinks down into his mattress, staring at the illuminated screen of his phone. Jeremy texted him two days ago apologising. And yesterday, asking how he's doing. And this morning, trying to make sure he's okay. And Michael knows he's being an asshole but he just doesn't know what to say. What is there to say? He can't apologise for what he said to Jeremy because it's true, and he refuses to lie just for his friend; no matter how much he loves him. Love… What does that even mean? He loves Jeremy, he has to. Michael remembers when they were kids and he had the biggest puppy crush on him, and it only got bigger from there. He's been pining after the guy for so long, he can't not want him. The only guy he's ever liked, from when he was a wide eyed little girl to now; it's everything he's ever known. Jeremy is everything he's ever known. If it's not him that Michael should be spending his forever with, he wouldn't even know where to begin with anyone else. Jeremy is so.. safe. He's here and he's reliable and Michael thought he would never do anything to hurt him. His phone pings again, but it isn't Jeremy this time.

Jake wants to the Christine to his Halloween party 

Fuck. Can he really do that to Jeremy? Michael knows that he wanted to ask Christine to go with him…

I'm waiting for your go ahead to tell him anything dude 

He shouldn't.

Go for it. 

He's such an asshole. But if Michael can't have Jeremy, they'll at least both go to the party alone. He probably won't even have the guts to ask Christine out anyway, he doesn't have the balls to even talk to her; Jeremy is too non-confrontational for anything like that. But… that just means he's even more of an ass for not answering his messages. He can say something.

~~Hey Jeremy~~

No, that's too casual.

~~I'm sorry .~~

No, that will put him on suicide watch for the rest of the week.

I'm fine. 

Stark, but that's probably a good thing. It pops up as read immediately. Great. Michael drops his phone on his chest with a sigh, looking away from the posters above him to the wall of pictures on his right. There's more than he can count pinned to the wall, most of them taken by Michael himself; some shots are by Jeremy though. He took down all his pre-transition photos already, but there's a few solo pictures of tiny Jeremy that survived. He was scrawny, adorable, and en even more ginger. He was such a hyper kid. Michael’s phone pings. If only his attention span hadn't gotten so much better.

You're pissed 

Not a question, an acknowledgement. Jeremy isn't that oblivious, he can tell when Michael is mad.

It's okay. I'm pissed at myself I was being such an ass for no reason. I always knew but it was just.. more real all of a sudden and I thought. God, it's selfish but I thought if I gave you shit people wouldn't think Im gay too 

You got so much shit all the time and I got enough of that without hanging out with someone that gay 

God, you always stood up for me and i did this shit to you 

I'm sorry michael 

Michael really wants to be happy that Jeremy can see that he was a dick. But the only reason he's doing this is because he threatened suicide on the guy; which wasn't cool, he knows, but it was the only option he had. He doesn't reply to his friend, discarding his phone onto the bedside table. He could do it. Jeremy and him are sort of fighting, he and Rich are okay but he can’t really like Michael that much. His dad wouldn’t wake up, he could… no. He can’t.

   “Shit. Do I actually have something to live for?” he does. When did that happen? Sometime between half being forced to take the Squip and now, Michael started feeling.. Happy. He’s not used to that.But he didn’t get Jeremy, not yet at least, so why does he not want to die anymore? He was sure that after pushing for so long, it could only be Jeremy that could finally make him feel good about himself. He feels shitty right now, but his chest isn’t heavy like it usually is; like something is pushing down on him and trying to crush him. His phone rings again, this time in a pattern that tells him exactly who it is. He swipes off Jeremy’s texts and clicks through to the newest ones.

She said yes. 

Sweet. Rich must’ve done a hell of a job setting those two up, Michael thought Jake had a girlfriend. The guy has had too many to keep track of; hell, he even dated a freshman this year. Gross. Even freshman don’t want to date each other.

Give the new couple my congrats 

He follows with a thumb up emoji, grinning to himself. Michael gets up, leaving his phone on the bed so he can dig through his box of Polaroids with both hands. He took some pictures with Rich the other day, now where did they go… … He pulls out the stack on top and flips through them, pulling out the photos he and Rich took the last time they hung out. The guy is so photogenic, Michael actually ran out of film in his camera taking so many pictures of him. To the wall they go; it’s therapeutic to match up the photos to different areas of the wall and pin them up with the others. He even snagged a pic of Jake, an arm thrown around Rich’s shoulder and a stupid grin stretched across his face.

    “Huh.” pinning up the photos, Michael picks up a difference in the new ones he didn’t really expect. He’s smiling in every single one. It’s rare of Michael to smile for a picture, but Rich took dozens of shots with a slime clear on his face. He’s sure something. The bright pictures change up his pattern, but it makes everything just a little brighter, and Michael needs that right now honestly. Okay, his phone is going nuts. Jeremy first this time.

Are you going to that Halloween party? 

Oof. Michael was going to ask Jeremy to go with him. Maybe he still can. Yeah, he was being an ass and they yelled at each other night but.. He’s starting to sound desperate. But Jeremy did apologize..

Yeah. 

Oh sweet i really want to ask christine to go with me 

Actually i wanted to ask if youd go with me 

Oh. Their texts sent at the same time. That’s awkward.

Oh, Michael.. 

Ugh. He takes it all back, life sucks.

Forget it 

Michael im sorry. I would, really 

He refrains from saying something salty, so he just flicks through the rest of his notifications and doesn’t say anything at all. There’s a saying about that, isn’t there? Well, Michael is feeling cooled down at least so maybe he should tell his Squip that he’s good.

**Finally.**

    “Jesus Christ!” he always forgets that thing can do that.

**I have been observing from a distance while you handle yourself. While it must seem that you have thrown a wrench into our plans, I actually foresaw something of this degree happening and accounted for this whilst doing my calculations.**

   “You knew I’d fuck it up. Awesome.”

**Language.**

    “You knew I’d _frick_ it up.”

**Yes, I did. In fact, I have already taken the liberty to.. Adjust our plans. You asked Jeremy to accompany you to the party, yes?**

It doesn’t have to ask, they probably saw the whole thing anyway.

**Don your cellular device once more and draft a message to Richard. Follow after me.**

Michael readies his thumbs, watching his supercomputer pace in front of him and consider what words to feed his vessel. Is it legal to date a computer?

**Now, try to keep up: Richard, I am afraid that as of late all my attention has been focused on concern for Jeremy, and undoubtedly you have many options on the field. But I do not wish for this party to pass as another stressful event. It was, after all, you who acquired a spot on the list for my name. It is only fair I take you as my date.**

    “Wait, what?” Michael pauses, looking up at his computer and squinting. That sounds counterproductive as fuck.

**Repeat your message back to me before sending, Michael.**

He does. His text ended up a little different from the exact thing the Squip said, but it was good enough to approve sending.

Uh, hey Rich! Listen, ,I know I’ve been really caught up with the whole Jeremy thing, and you probs have plenty of people falling all over you left and right as it is but.. I don’t want this to be something else for me to just stress over, and you DID get me on the list sooo it’s only fair I take you as my date. 

The message clicks over as read immediately, and Rich starts typing. Then he stops typing, and starts again. This goes on for a while. If the blonde rejects him, Michael might just die right on the spot. They shouldn’t have called it a date, that’s weird.

Fuck yeah dude I’d love to!! Do you already have any costume plans? I’ve been thinking about it but I haven’t really picked anything yet. Since we’re going together we should totally match! If you want we can go out and pick them out together too, there’s still plenty of time before the party and it’s early enough to get the good shit without buying online still! 

Wow. That is a wall of text.

**Accept his invitation to shop together.**

Sure man that sounds fun! It’s nice to get out of the house haha

**Perfect. You’re doing well Michael.**

    “What does this have to do with-”

**Shh. All will become clear in time. Follow my lead and everything will turn out swimmingly in the end.**

    “But I don’t think-”

**Shut up.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oof it took me forever to write this chapter and it's super bad

So does 2 work for you?

The message pops up on the top of Michael’s screen, making him sigh. Does he wait until he’s done, or just text Rich back now? He pulls down and click on the notification, shooting back a confirmation that the time they set up  to go out is still okay. Buuut Rich is sort of a chatterbox.

Sweet! I cant wait to hang out ill take you to the best party store!

I might be a little early tho is that cool?

Michael glances over at his alarm clock.

How early?

It’s just after 12:30 now and Michael is definitely not ready.

Oh are you busy?

Dear god yes, yes he’s busy.

Nah i just have to finish up what im doing and take a shower

Whatre you doin

Oh just cleaning out my inbox

He gives up and just closes out the window with his porn open, there’s no way out of having a conversation now; he can just finish later- oh come on where’s the off switch on this damn thing? 

Ill get off your ass dude, ive gotta get ready too

Really? He stuck around just long enough to ruin the mood. Ah well. Michael switches himself off and pulls out, swinging off the bed to just start getting ready now. He takes a longer shower than he usually would, enjoying the hot water and grabbing for his phone the second he steps out, typing with one hand and twisting a towel around his chest with the other.

Just got out of the shower 

Michael hikes up how towel to have full coverage of his boobs and snaps a selfie for Rich, smiling brightly at the camera. 

Aww, that all youre gonna give me? ;)

What?

**Send him another photo of yourself.**

Okay.. Michael holds up his phone again at the same angle

**Pull down your towel a bit first at least, show a little more skin.**

    “What?” he snorts, fumbling and almost dropping his phone. His computer is telling him to sext people now. Is this still real life? He’s not really sure about doing stuff like that, after you take a picture like that it just.. Exists. And Michael has done so much to erase everything people remembered about him pre-transition. He doesn’t want Rich to think about him as a girl.

**He will not**

Michael wants to think he won’t to, but you never know. He thought Jeremy would always be here for him, and that worked out so well. Okay. He takes a deep breath and tugs down his towel and sets it aside, holding up his front facing camera again.

**Mm, no. Don’t use that angle. Holding it above isn’t as flattering as straight out in front of you. Hold the phone with both hands at an angle like this.**

The squip helps with his perspective, showing off his.. Assets in a flattering way. Kinda. Michael doesn’t like his boobs, but whatever. He hates everything about himself so. He clicks a picture and sends it before he changes his mind, his supercomputer looking satisfied beside him. Alright, he has to finish washing his face and do his eyebrows before anyone can see him. His phone pings while he’s digging through his bin of self care shit and he’s a little scared to open it. He clicks into it, heat rushing to his face. Rich sent a photo of himself back, laying back with an arm tucked behind his head and his bare chest on full display for Michael to see. Jesus Christ. 

**Poor child.**

**Well?**

    “Uh, I already sent him a picture. Nothing else to show.” yeah no way is he tilting that camera below his hips. Not a fucking chance. The Squip nudges his hand again, pushing Michael back to sit on the edge of the bathtub and hold his phone down from a lower angle. 

**Don’t make that face.**

    “I’m not making a face.”

**You are making a face. Make a more suggestive one, won’t you?**

His supercomputer is probably broken. Michael takes a minute to make a ‘sexy’ face but he feels like a big awkward nerd. He ends up with some open mouthed shit with his eyes cut out completely because that was the only way he could actually get anything not ridiculous. He hates his tongue though. It ends up looking like he’s waiting for someone to cum on his face. Michael would suck a dick again. Done it before and would do again.

**You can go ahead and finish getting ready now.**

    “Oh, uh, okay.” he gets up and finishes shit up, twisting into his bedroom and pulling clothes out of the closet.

**Wear these.**

Why is it trying to pimp him out. Yes, his packer will fit in there but they’re fucking panties. That itself is fine, but the things are 90% lace and 10% actual fabric. But fine, whatever. He doesn’t want to get electrocuted today. His packer is tight and bulges in the underwear, but his pants are a little baggy so it doesn’t look like he has too much of a boner. He’s halfway into his binder when his phone goes off and he can’t get to it for a minute or two when his arms are finally free. Oh. Ew. Michael appreciates it, and really dicks are nice to look at in real life but there’s just no good angle to take a picture of the things; all dick pics are gross. Boner from before is dead. Michael closes that out and keeps getting ready.

    “So tell me why you told me to sext my new best friend?”

**Because**.

    “Because why?”

**It’s all part of the plan**

    “The plan you won’t tell me about.”

**Eactly**.

He drops it, smearing some concealer over the acne on his face and drawing on some quick (read, painful) wings. He doesn’t need anything more and he’ll be trying shit on anyway. Speaking of, he shouldn’t forget his wallet. 

**He’ll be here soon.**

Sweet. A spritz of cologne and he’s all ready to go. 

Im here

Poor Rich. Poor Michael. His face floods with heat as he climbs in the car, eyes unable to meet his friend’s. 

    “You ready for some serious shopping? I’m taking you to so many places.” he laughs, turning to look at the blonde and grinning at him. Two bros sending nudes to each other but it’s not awkward cuz they aren’t gay. Well, they are. But whatever.

    “I don’t know if I’m ready.” Rich smacks him and starts driving.

**This will be a long drive. Your bluetooth is in your left jacket pocket. Do not distract Richard while he is driving.**

_       Oh, uh, okay. I don’t really have anything good to listed to though, I just finished a book. _

**Hm**

_       Can I ask you something? _

**You can ask, however I may not answer.**

_       Of course. It’s just. You’re super advanced tech, what are you doing with me? I know how you got here but why aren’t you in the heads of world leaders and shit? _

**Who says we aren’t?**

Well shit. That’s true he didn’t think of that, there’s probably thousands of these things. 

**Right you are Michael. I am one of many and we are everywhere. Now, an inquiry for you. Does Jeremy normally drink carbonated beverages?**

_       What kinda question is that? You can just look at my shit to see it. Sorry, stuff. _

**Hm.**

_       No, he doesn’t. _

**Well that might be a problem.**

What’s that supposed to mean? The Squip has been being a little weird lately, and not just with making him spend so much time with Rich. It asks about Jeremy a lot, weird stuff like that. Other people too. It’s.. a little off putting honestly.

**You trust me, Michael, don’t you?**

_      Of course I do. _

**No hesitation, i like that. You are very good at following orders.**

Michael isn’t sure that’s a good thing, but at least his supercomputer doesn’t shock him all the time or anything. It’s pretty easy really, do everything it says and it likes you. 

**Ask Richard if he’s feeling well.**

    “Hey, Rich, you feeling okay?” his friend glances over at him, looking a little downcast. 

    “Am I that obvious?” he sighs, shoulders sagging. 

    “I’m fine. There’s just a lot right now. Man, thanks for letting me drag you around today. I needed to get out of the house.” god, what a sweetie. 

    “You can drag me around whenever you want” the silence that follows is comfortable and makes Michael smile a bit. This is nice. But Rich still looks tense. Maybe..

**Don’t push it.**

Hm. Okay. Michael drops it before he even says anything, brushing his fingers through his pocket and finding his mini sketchbook. It’s almost full but there’s still a blank page or two in the back for him to use. Pulling his knees up and using his legs as a ‘flat’ surface, he sneaks little glances at Rich until he realises that the guy is too focused on driving to even notice. The shading is a little off but he does an okay looking side profile, blowing lightly on the lead heavy page before turning it. Yeah that’s gonna smudge. He moves on to a front profile mostly on memory, again fucking up the shading for the depth of his face structure but what're you gonna do. Hm. He goes back in and sketches in some lines down Rich’s face, connecting them with interlocked circles and circuits until he’s gotten entirely too carried away. 

**What did you do to him?**

_       They’re like the things on your face. His Squip has them too right? _

**Yes, they’re standard. Why on Richard?**

_       Well sometimes I see myself with them like that. When I’m talking with you or when you make me do something. And in my dreams. They look better on him though. _

The computer doesn’t respond. The car jerks, dragging Michael’s pencil across the paper and almost making him fall over completely. 

    “We’re here!” the blonde announces, looking over at his passenger and laughing. 

    “Woah, sorry, guess I should’ve warned you.” he unbuckles Michael’s seatbelt for him, catching his sketchbook when he falls into the floor of the car. It’s time to die and never get up again.

     “Is this me?” Michael has never gotten up so quickly in his life. He says something unintelligable as he snatches the tiny sketchbook out of Rich’s hands, closing it and trying a few times to shove it back into his pocket. He should stop doing that but damn it he draws for himself, not other people. Rich misses a beat, blinking vacantly at Michael for a minute before he recovers. 

    “Okay! Uh,” he glances off to the side, “Right, well shopping isn’t going to wait for us.” that wasn’t a super smooth recovery but.. It was a recovery. He looks a little more stiff, back straight and shoulders square. They both get out of the car and damn, Rich wasn’t kidding about a lot of shopping. Michael flashes back to the last time he went shopping with someone. Oof. But it won’t turn out like that this time, and this little clump of stores can’t be as busy as the mall on a Friday. And it isn’t, people are around sure but not nearly enough to make a crowd all in one place.

But...

    “This doesn’t really look like a prime costume spot.” Rich stops to look back at him and shrug, gesturing around them.

    “Shopping isn’t Halloween exclusive, no shopping racism today Mikey.” he snorts, letting Rich lead him around and hold clothes up to him. His Squip gives input every once and awhile but is mostly silent, hanging back with the blonde’s squip and plotting probably. But Rich is more comfortable and finally looks relaxed, so Michael could care less about the shit that's being shoved at him. He isn't necessarily paying attention, looking about at the bright colours and the soft fabric in his hands. So being shoved into a blank room when he was busy gazing over at a mirror to look at his hair was a little but of a shock. Okay, He's trying things on then. He vetos trying on shirts because it's pretty obvious is stuff like that fits. Pants are the right size… Oh. Michael's fingers stumble to skim across the the soft material of a suit jacket; still on the hanger with the rest of the suit. Damn. Michael pulls on the pants and the shirt but.. His only weakness.

    “Hey Rich, can you help me with this?” he clicks the lock so he can come in, cracking a grin when he catches sight of Michael. 

    “Oh my god.” he laughs, holding a hand over his mouth to try and keep too much laughter from spilling out. 

    “What the fuck did you do?” Michael sighs and tugs at the bess he made with the buttons on the shirt, face going from pink to red while his friend laughs at him. This is the worst.

    “Just get it off me. I have to go to the bathroom.” he huffs, biting back the need to sob out his frustrations. God, he’s such a baby. What a loser. 

    “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Here lemme help you out.” Rich steps inside and closes the door, pushing Michael’s hands away and unbuttoning the mess that he made, smoothing down the forming creases in the pristine white shirt and starting at the bottom to button it up for him. His warm fingers brush against the brunette’s skin, giving him chills and raising the hair on his arms as he goes along. 

    “There you go. And then you want to tuck it in..” he tucks the ends in and pushes both hands down the front of Michael’s pants, skimming both hands around his hips to tuck everything down and straighten it out; lingering around the back and sliding his hands down further to get a handful of that ass. Michael squeaks. 

    “There, now where’s..” Rich finds the tie he picked out and slips it off the hanger, uncurling it and tossing around Michael’s neck; tying it expertly and cinching it at his neck. He grins at Michael, grabbing the black jacket and pulling it over his arms to button that up for him too. 

    “Hot damn.” he whistles, stepping out of the way so the brunette can see himself. Well holy shit, he looks fucking fantastic. 

    “Sold. Let’s get you out of this and you can’t say no, cuz it looks fuckin’ amazing.” Michael turns pink, waving away his friend’s hands and trying to hide his face. 

    “No, I can get out by myself.” Rich steps back as much as he can in the small space, waiting expectantly. He’s.. going to watch. Michael clumsily pops open the buttons and slides off the jacket and shirt in one go, squirming through the rest and pulling on his clothes as fast as he physically can. Rich buys him shit and makes Michael feel a little weird about it. He’s ready to go but gets no break before at least three more; but honestly he lost count. By the time they were looking at halloween stuff Michael’s eyes have already glazed over and whatever Rich wants to do is just the best idea he’s ever heard as long as they can leave soon. He tried on what the guy picked out but honestly doesn’t remember what the fuck it was. The entire day was a blur of too many people, too much touching, and too much noise and it couldn’t have been over fast enough. 

    “Hey, are you okay?” Michael looks up, blinking a few times to focus in on Rich. Is he doing something weird? He’s too dissociated to really process anything off of autopilot.

    “Uh- yeah. Why?”

    “Nothing,” he waves it off, “you just look spaced out.” that’s fair enough. Michael looks down at his hands, pencil in one and sketchbook in the other; half of Jeremy’s face already done up on the page, including the strong lines of a Squip’s circuits. Huh. 

**It suits him.**

_       Does it? I dunno, I can’t picture him all squipped out.  _

**Can’t you? It would still be him, as you are still you. Just with all his fears and insecurities removed.**

Now that’s a concept. Michael can’t picture Jeremy without all the anxiety, it’s just too much of him to think about him ever really being comfortable. That’s kinda sad. He feels bad about that, if Jeremy could come out of his shell it would be good for him but anxiety just doesn’t work like that y’know? Who would Jeremy’s Squip look like? Well, who would he take orders from? Probably Keanu Reeves, he was really hot in the Matrix. 

    “Earth to Michael? Hey, we’re here.” woah, it didn’t even feel like any time passed at all. What time is it? Jesus, it’s like eight already, looks like he’s going in through a window. 

    “Hey Mikey, thanks for letting me drag you around. I know you don’t really do the whole social thing.” god, he’s way too cute. 

    “Don’t, I like doing that social thing as long as it’s with you.” he gives Rich a playful little punch to the arm and grins at him. He’s way too great for his own good, with that stupid smile that makes Michael’s heart fucking melt. Too pure, too good for this world.

    “Are you good going home tonight Rich?” he flinches a little and shrugs. 

    “I can crash somewhere else tonight, no big. Hell, I’ve spent plenty of nights in my car.”

    “I, uh, I’m climbing in the window tonight anyway If you wanna..” Rich sighs, shoulders falling and pure relief flooding onto his face. He parks a little away from the house and Michael lets him in through his bedroom window, how romantic. He locks the window while Rich switches on a light, wiggling his eyebrows at the brunette. “Oh, shut up.” man, he’s never had anyone over all night except Jeremy. 

    “You want the left side or the wall side?”


End file.
